#max man 40% capsules

[moniq31gamer]

TS4 STARTING OVER CHALLENGE

Starting Over is a task-based challenge, which requires you to build or refurbish all of the neighbourhoods in your sims 4 world. You can start with an empty world (one is available  here - updated for the pets expansion) or you can refurbish existing neighbourhoods.

In order to complete each neighbourhood you must:

Build or refurbish community venues;

Unlock jobs/careers;

Complete a set number of gameplay tasks/events; and

Complete a set number of social tasks/events.

When you have completed each level you can move on to the next.

NEIGHBOURHOODS & LEVELS

Each neighbourhood will have a certain style/vibe (called ‘levels’) based on the description of maxi’s neighbourhoods found here. The types of sims, homes, community lots, jobs and tasks available will depend on the level you are playing. For example, the level 1 neighbourhood in Oasis Springs is made up of trailers and abandoned buildings in need of refurbishment. The sims here are poor, with no money and very little job opportunities. @pictureamoebae has the perfect starter neighbourhood for Bedrock Straits in Oasis Springs: Sandtrap Shack, Sam’s Bar, Nookstone Bunker, Pebble Gas and Johnny Zest’s Trailer which i use in my own game. See ‘Neighbourhoods’ section at the end of the script for a description of building styles in each district.

Each district (Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest, Windenburg and San Myshuno) are made up of 4 neighbourhood levels:

Level 1 will be a poor, run-down neighbourhoods with few job opportunities;

Level 2 will be a working-class neighbourhood with low-rent homes but better job opportunities;

Level 3 will be a mix of well off residences and commercial neighbourhoods with good job opportunities; and

Level 4 will be a wealthy neighbourhood where professional careers are available.

As you move up through the levels there will be different careers/lots available and tasks will become more difficult as you progress.

SIMS

You can use any sims with any skill levels, either existing maxi’s sims or your own sims, but you must use sims that reflect the type of level you are playing (trailer trash, poor but respectable, slobs, snobs, wealthy elite); so, for example, the Llandgraabs would not live in a level 1 neighbourhood. You can use any of the households that you have moved into your neighbourhoods to complete tasks, but you may need specific types of sims to complete certain tasks (ie. single sims, married sims, teenagers, toddlers etc), so be sure to add appropriate households to accomplish your tasks.

(Optional) Your sims will begin with a capsule wardrobe, with a few items worn over different categories (see this post for an example of a capsule wardrobe). Once you have a clothing store your sims can have as many outfits as you wish, but until then your sims can only have 3 everyday outfits and 1 of all other categories.  

Homes will be purchased using the ‘freerealestate’ cheat but households will start with no money (a list of cheat codes can be found here). However, opportunities for making money (through jobs/careers and tasks) will increase with each level. You can also move your sims to a better neighbourhood once they can afford it.

JOBS & CAREERS

Until jobs/careers are unlocked your sims can only earn money selling goods they have crafted or collected. A list of all collectibles can be found here.

There are set jobs/careers available for your sims depending on what neighbourhood your sim lives in – job opportunities increase as you progress through the levels, and you need to build/refurbish certain lots to unlock these careers. There are also requirements for custom careers if you have these (links included). You may take a lower level job/career if you are playing a higher level neighbourhood, but you cannot take a higher level career if you are playing a lower level neighbourhood (a sim in a level 1 neighbourhood cannot take a level 4 job but a sim in a level  3 neighbourhood can get a level 1 job/career ).

Level 1 & 2 Jobs/Careers:

Fast-food Employee                     -              need a Diner

Retail Employee                           -              need a Retail Store

Manual Labour Employee            -              need Furniture/Hobby Store

Criminal Career                            -              need a Dive Bar

Culinary Career                            -              need  a Bakery

Welfare                                         -              need a single parent

Babysitter                                     -              need a Baby/Toy Store

Barista                                          -              need a Café

Tech Guru                                     -              need an Arcade/Bowling Alley

Writer                                            -              need a Library (can be a School)

Painter                                          -              need an Arts Centre

Detective                                       -              need a sim in the Criminal Career

Education                                      -              need a School (set as a Library,

                                                                    Teen Hangout or Generic Lot)

Self-employed                               -              if you have this mod

Vet                                                 -              need a Vet Clinic

Level 3 & 4 Jobs/Careers:

Athlete                                           -              need a Gym or Pool

Business                                        -              need 2 new Retail Stores

Entertainer                                     -              need a Lounge

Social Media                                  -              need a Nightclub

Scientist                                         -              need a Museum/Gallery

Fashion                                         -              need a Beauty Parlour or

                                                                     Photography Studio

Military                                            -              need a sim in Detective Career

Biology                                            -              need a sim in Science Career

Doctor                                             -              need a Spa

Critic                                               -              need 2 Restaurants (not Diner)

Politics                                            -              need a Clubhouse

Secret Agent (Diamond Agent)      -              need to max the Detective Career

                      (Villain)                    -              need to max Criminal Career

Astronaut                                        -              need Athletic Training (a sim in

                                                                     Athlete Career)

HOW TO START

Select a Level 1 neighbourhood in Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest, Windenburg or San Myshuno;

Build or refurbish homes in a level 1 style (see ‘Neighbourhoods’ section                   at the end of this script);

Build or refurbish any community lots you may need to unlock level 1                       jobs/careers (these can be built in any district or neighbourhood)’;

Choose or randomize Gameplay Tasks/Events that you need to complete                 (see ‘Gameplay Tasks/Events’ below); and

Choose or randomize Social Tasks/Events that you need to complete (see               ‘Social Tasks/Events’ below).

When you have completed the tasks for this neighbourhood you can move on to Level 2 in the same district or start a Level 1 neighbourhood in a new district.

Please tag #TS4 Starting Over so we can see your challenge posts

GAMEPLAY & SOCIAL TASKS/EVENTS

You will select by choice or randomizer (find a randomizer here) a set number of tasks depending on the neighbourhood level you are playing.

Level 1 neighbourhood         -              complete 3 Gameplay Tasks/Events; and

                                                            complete 2 Social Task/Event

Level 2 neighbourhood         -              complete 3 Gameplay Tasks/Events; and

                                                            complete 3 Social Tasks/Events

Level 3 neighbourhood         -              complete 4 Gamplay Tasks/Events; and

                                                            complete 3 Social Tasks/Events

Level 4 neighbourhood         -              complete 5 Gamplay Tasks/Events; and

                                                            complete 4 Social Tasks/Events

Level 1 & 2 Gameplay Tasks/Events

1.        Wish for money at the Wishing Well;

2.        Win on a scratch card – add $1,000 to family funds

3.        Unexpected bill – deduct $200 from family funds

4.        Fined for J-Walking – deduct $100 from family funds

5.        Failing – do no school homework or job-required tasks for 3 consecutive                   days

6.       Your sim is arrested – evict a sim from the household (move in new                           household if property is empty)

7.        Taken into care – remove a toddler, child or teen from the household

8.        Make $200 from computer hacking

9.        Visit the Flea Market in San Myshuno

10.      Go to the gym and increase fitness skill by 2

11.      Ask 2 sims for a loan

12.      Go Bowling with friends on a Saturday night

13.      At the weekend, order pizza and watch a movie with the household

14.      Woohooty Call – trawl the local bars and have woohooty with a sim you do               meet there

15.      Go on a weekend camping trip to Granite Falls

16.     “Always bringing home strays”: adopt the frst homeless pet you come across

17.     Laundry Day (if you do not have laundry facilities at home then build and                  visit  a community laundrette)

18.     Apply for a $500 bank loan - roll odd number for a yes, even number for a no

19.     Day Trip - take the family on a day trip to Deadgrass Isle, in Bridlington Bay

20.     Welfare (if you have this mod) - have a single parent quit their job and go on            welfare

21.      Adopt a toddler, child or teen

22.      Glamping – rent a cabin in Granite Falls for the weekend

23.      Have a sim max a skill

24.      Make a wish at the Wishing Well

25.      Gone to University – have a teen sim move out of the home and into a                     low-rent apartment

26.      Library books are overdue – visit the Library and spend 3 hours reading

27.      Visit a Festival in San Myshuno

28.      Give a sim a makeover (new hair and clothing style)

29.      Snow Day – children/teens have no school for 2 days

30.      Home makeover – redecorate and refurnish 2 rooms in your sim’s home

31.      Write a book in your sim’s favourite genre

32.      Join/Set up a club and spend 3 hours at a club hangout

33.      Complete a sim’s aspiration

34.     Dance/Karaoke Marathon - spend 5 days practicing singing or dancing and               on Saturday night head to a bar or club and dance/sing the night away.

35.      Host a toddler’s playdate, at home or in the Park

36.     Fireworks night – invite friends to a bonfire (at home or a community lot)                   and end the night with fireworks

37.      Go on a diet – visit the gym and only eat salad for 3 consecutive days

38.      Faking it – call in sick for 2 days and spend both days at community lots

39.     Bake Sale – you baked extra goodies, take them over to a neighbor

40.     Day Trip – visit The Bluffs, Ancient Ruins or Von Haunt Estate in                               Windenburg

41.     Become a Vet - there are so many pets in your neighbourhood that it’s time              to build and run a Vet Clinic

42.   Go on a weekend camping trip to Salvadorada and discover the local culture           (reach level 5 of the Salvadorada Culture skill)

43.    “The Cat Lady” - move in a strange neighbour and have them adopt 3 cats

44.     Secrets - Discover and visit a Secret Lot

45.    “Puppies For Sale” - adopt a puppy

46.   The Repo Man - your sim cannot pay the bills and the repo man comes for                your stuff. Sell all items in 1 room (and deduct their value from family funds).

47.     Grocery Day -  an empty fridge means it’s time to head to the Grocery Store.           Build/visit a Grocery Store and stock up.

48.    Seasons are here - build a new seasonal clothing store and buy some new              clothes (for example a Summer Swimwear Store, a Winter Woolies Store).

49.    Earthquake - you live in an earthquake zone (set as a lot trait). Eventually                 you will experience an earthquake. When the next earthquake strikes you                must turn your sim’s home into a quake disaster zone (pull down walls, tatty             decor, boarded up windows etc) until you can afford to rebuild.

Wait, did you have disaster insurance?

                                    roll odd number = yes, add $5,000 to family funds

                                    roll even number = no insurance, unlucky!

50.    "I want to Believe" - it’s time to search for the illusive Sixam. Find Sixam,                  meet an alien and attend a party there, before returning to Simsdom.

Level 1 & 2 Social Tasks/Events:

1.       Fishing Trip - spend 1 day fishing at different locations. On the next day, hold            a BBQ for friends/family and only serve the fish your sim caught.

2.       Visit 2 neighbours

3.       Have a BBQ and invite all the neighbours

4.       Get a single sim pregnant and claim child support – add $500 to                               household funds once the baby is born

5.       Make an enemy and have a fight

6.       Become a stalker – get to level 3 Mischief Skill by pranking the same sim

7.       Make an enemy at home (sibling, spouse, parent, roomie etc)

8.       Have a single sim woohoo with 2 different sims

9.       Teenage Menace – have a teen perform 10 mean and 10 mischief                             interactions

10.     Go to a Karaoke Bar with friends

11.      Throw a Gold Star House Party

12.      Meet 2 new sims

13.      Befriend a neighbor – become good friends or lovers

14.     Divorce Settlement – one spouse gets the house and kids, the other must                 move out to a low-rent apartment

15.      Get married - build a Church or Wedding Store and throw a Wedding                         Party

16.      Have a married couple try for a baby – complete when pregnant

17.      Single parent – a single sim must get pregnant and have the baby as a                     single parent

18.      Date Night – go on a date with a spouse or loved one

19.     Retirement – move out an elderly family member and move them into a                     retirement home, apartment or make them homeless

20.      Accept all invites made by phone for 1 sim week (date, celebration, party,                club outing etc)

21.     Throw a Birthday Party and age up a sim

22.     Go on a Singles Night at a Bar

23.     Have a teen go bowling with friends

24.     Have an affair – a married sim must begin a romantic relationship with                       another sim

25.    Spend 2 days at school with a child or teen (build a School lot, set as a                     Library, Teen Hangout or Generic lot) and do kid/teen stuff

26.    "Having a Bad Day" - your sim has a bad day at work and comes home to                 take it out on the kids. Have them argue and punish a child/teen.

27.     Throw a Party - throw any kind of party at home just because you want to.

28.     Go to a burger joint with the family (build a lot if you do not have one)

29.    BULLY! - Your child/teen sim is being a bully at school. Choose a child/teen              sim of the same age and do negative interaction and pranks on them until                they are enemies.

30.     Unrequited Love - have a sim date a non-commital sim and have them be                rejected for a marriage proposal

31.     Family Photoshoot - it’s time to get some family photos done. Build/visit a                 photography studio and get photographs of the whole family.

32.     The Hangover - you will pay for that one drunken night! Go to a bar or club               alone and make only inappropriate interactions with all other sims.

33.     Suspicious Minds - have a sim follow their spouse/partner to 3 different                     locations and watch them from afar (do not interact with them). Are they                   having an affair? You decide…

34.     Male Bonding / Girlie Weekend - send 2 guys or 2 girls (not friends) on a                   vacation together to GF or Salvadorada and have them do activities that                   involve 2 or more sims (fishing, exploring etc) until they become friends or                lovers.

35.     Complete Autonomy - turn on full autonomy and have your sim do what they            will for 2 consecutive sim days.

Level 3 & 4 Gameplay Tasks/Events:

1.         Your numbers have come up in the lottery – add $50,000 to household                     funds

2.        You lost all of your money in a Real Estate scam – move household into a                dingy apartment and start over with no money

3.          Spend at least $2,500 on landscaping

4.         Invest in a Store - buy an existing business (using ‘freerealestate’) and                     transfer $2,500 to Business Funds. You can keep the store or sell the                       business the store is has a net profit of $5,000

5.         Complete a collection for a bonus of $10,000

6.         Moving on up - move to a nicer house or apartment (in a Level 3 or 4                       neighbourhood)

7.        Start a Business from scratch – buy an affordable empty lot and use only                 household funds to furnish and run a business

8.         Grow up well – have a toddler max all skills, then age up to a child

9.        Homeless – following a series of unfortunate events, one sim must be                       evicted and remain homeless

10.      Have a child/teen get an ‘A’ grade at school – reward them with something               new (toys, computer etc) up to the value of $1,000

11.      Real Estate Mogul – sell current home for 2 x the value (use money cheat                 to add double the value to household funds) and move into a new,                             affordable home.

12.       Get a drunken tattoo – select a sim who would not normally have a tattoo

13.      You’ve been burgled – place all electronic equipment in the home into the                 household inventory for 1 sim week (you can then replace them,purchase                 more or return items from inventory)

14.       Have a sim be abducted

15.       Complete a sim’s aspiration

16.       Mid-life crisis – have a sim quit their level 3+ job and start a new career

17.       Demoted (use this demotion cheat)

18.       Find and visit a hidden lot – take photographs to hang on the wall at home              or at work

19.      Spa Day – your sim will visit a Spa and get 4 treatments (manicure,                          pedicure, sauna, yoga, mud bath, meditation, massage)

20.      Become a vegetarian – change a sim’s trait to vegetarian and the                             household can only cook vegetarian meals for 1 sim week (after this, non-                 vegetarians in the household can cook meat again)

21.      Have a family vacation at a Villa in Salvadorada and discover a relic worth               more than $1,000

22.      Feeling Friskie - your pet wants a companion and a family (complete when                your female pet has a litter of kittens/puppies)

23.      "All About Clutter" - spend $1,000 on clutter for your home

24.      Back to Basics - a family member must age up and move out of the family                home into an apartment with only the basic needs and no money (use free                real estate and money cheats)

25.      Pay Grade increase - Your sims has worked hard and finally earned a                     degree - start them at level 5 of their chosen career

26.       Income Tax Evasion – pay a fine of $20,000 (deduct from household                         funds)

27.       Make 5 donations (to charities or political causes)

28.       Buy (use ‘freerealestate’) and run a successful  restaurant with a star                       rating of 3 or more

29.       Visit a Museum/Art Gallery and spend $2,500 on new art for the home

30.       Bankrupt – reset family funds to $0

31.       Early retirement – a YA/A sim will cash in a retirement plan of $100,000                     and retire (cannot have any other job/career)

32.       Max a Level 3 or 4 career

33.       Complete a sim’s aspiration and cash-in all aspiration reward points

34.       Find your inner peace – health and personal growth is more valuable than                money – visit the Spa and max the Wellness skill

35.      Bad Hair Day - make over a sim with a bad hairstyle and keep it for a sim                 week (after a week your sim can keep the style or fix it).

36.      Musical Prodigy – have a child/teen reach level 5 of all musical skills                         available to them

37.     Kill off 2 random townies (you may build a church or graveyard to display                 headstones)

38.    Inherited a Mansion – move into an unfurnished  Level 4 mansion or                         penthouse apartment (use ‘freerealestate), using household funds to                         redecorate and refurnish

39.     Cowplant Suicide - have a sim die by cowplant.

40.    Retail Therapy – send your sim on a day out with friends and go on a                       shopping spree valuing $5,000 (if you cannot buy retail items of this value                 then you can deduct $5,000 from household funds)

41.    Looking for adventure - have a sim quit their job and become an explorer                  (complete when the secret temple has been discovered and treasure is                    found)

42.    Pedigree -  have your pedigree cat or dog breed with another pedigree and              sell a litter of purebred puppies/kittens

43.    "Life’s a Gamble" - your sim has become addicted to gambling and has put               up the family home as collateral - roll a dice: even numbers will result in you             winning (add $150,000 to family funds), an odd number will result in your                 sim losing the family home and becoming homeless (move the entire                        family in to an empty apartment and set money to 0)

44.   “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword” - write 3 best-sellers and receive a                    $100,000 advance for your next book

45.   “City Slicker” - once your sim has maxed the Social Media or Critic career,                move them and their family to a Penthouse apartment with a Butler (use free            real estate cheat)

46.    New Restaurant - a new restaurant has opened up. Build/visit a new                         restaurant with the family.

47.   Pyromaniac!!! - Have your sim set a fire (by cooking, lighting fires, fireworks             etc) and let it get out of control until someone dies.

48.   Corner the Market - where is there a niche in the market? What sort of store             is missing from your game? Do you need a bookstore for your genius                       /bookish sims? A toy store for your childish/parents? A comic store for your               geeky/gamer sims? Build and visit a store that meets your current sim’s                  needs.

49.   Flower Garden - design a beautiful garden of approx 5 x 5 in size (can be                 bigger depending on the size of lot) and use landscaping features and only               perfect flowers (you do not need all flowers for this challenge but what                       flowers you use must be perfect).

50.    The Red Carpet - a new club or lounge has been opened and they are                     having a red carpet opening event. Attend the event and get glammed up for            the cameras. Post screenshots of your sims at this event.

Level 3 & 4 Social Tasks/Events:

1.       D.I.V.O.R.C.E – sell the family home, move both spouses out and split the               household funds. Each spouse must then buy/rent an affordable home or                 apartment

2.        Make a good sim become evil (use cas.fulleditmode cheat) and make an                 enemy at work

3.         Have a teen sim ‘Mess Around’ with another teen sim

4.         School Reunion – throw a party for friends only (no acqaintances or                         family)

5.        Girl’s/Boy’s Night Out – go out in a group (can be a club group) and play                   pub games (cards, bowling, darts etc)

6.          Caught breaking curfew – have a teen be caught breaking curfew or                         sneaking out late at night

7.         Slumber Party – On the weekend, have a child/teen invite friends over to a               sleepover (make sure there are plenty of group activities to keep them                       busy)

8.          A brief affair – a married sim must have an affair with another sim but                       break up after woohoo

9.          Feeling adventurous – woohoo in 3 public places

10.        Looking for Love – go on 5 dates with 5 different sims

11.        Join/Start a club and go on 2 club outings

12.       Seclusion – spend 2 days alone in Granite Falls to work on skills/                             collections in the peace and quiet of the countryside

13.        Netflix & Chill – watch a movie at home with a romantic interest and follow               the movie with woohoo

14.        Playdate – visit a friend’s house with a toddler, child or teen

15.        Eat out at a romantic restaurant with a partner, spouse or romantic interest

16.       Gold Digga – a YA sim must marry a wealthy A/E sim

17.       Take the family to a Photography Studio for some new family portraits

18.       Let’s do Lunch – go for lunch with friends at a café, bar or restaurant

19.       A Trophy Wife (or husband) – a wealthy sim must divorce their spouse                    and remarry a YA sim

20.       Have a One-Night Stand – romance a sim, woohoo with them, then never                 speak to them again (this will take longer than one night)

21.       Unexpected argument – perform 10 mean interactions with a friend

22.       Pool Party – have a teen throw a pool party

23.       Have a sim start a new romantic relationship

24.       Throw a Gold-Star Dinner Party

25.       Spend the day with the family at the Park

26.      Have a cat/dog person neglect their pet for 3 consecutive days.

27.     Growing Pains - have a child age up to a teen with a renegade style (punk,               emo, goth, biker etc) or any other fashion statement.

28.     Family Dinners - it’s time to spend some quality time with your family. Have               breakfast or dinner with all household members for 3 consecutive days.

29.     Separated a Birth / Evil Twin - An identical twin you were separated from at               birth turns up on your doorstep (use CAS cheat and add your sim’s twin,                   and add them to your household). Roll the dice:

         Roll even number = befriend your twin

         Roll odd number = your twin is evil - become enemies.

30.     Teen Angst - have a teen sim become enemies with 1 or both parents.

31.     Unlucky in Love - have a sim go on 3 disastrous dates.

32.   Frenemies - have 2 siblings in the same household make as many                          friends/enemies in a sim week. One sim will make friends, the other will                     make enemies. The LOSER must move out.

33.     A new wine bar has just opened – build an exclusive club, lounge or bar                  and go on a night out with friends

34.   Graduation – a teen sim has graduated. Throw a party or prom for teens                   only (at home or build a school/prom venue)

35.    Spend Saturday night with friends, order pizza and watch a movie

NEIGHBOURHOODS

Oasis Springs:

Level 1 - Bedrock Straits               Low-class neighbourhood made up of                                                                         cheap trailers, dingbat style homes and                                                                       run-down  community lots

Level 2 - Parched Prospect           Moderately-priced single storey homes in the                                                             mid-century modern style

Level 3 - Skyward Palms              Expensive Spanish Villas in a gated                                                                           community

Level 4 - Acquisition Butte            A wealthy neighbourhood with 2 luxury                                                                       mansions with beautiful landscaping

Oasis Springs Commercial District    The main commercial district overlooking                                                                the sea can also be set for residential use

Dessert Bloom Park                           A great place for wilderness buffs with                                                                        many collectibles

Willow Creek:

Level 1 - Foundry Cove                Small and cramped shotgun style homes that                                                              are affordable but need plenty of TLC

Level 2 - Courtyard Lane              A moderately priced are made up of Craftsman                                                         Bungalows, with good-sized gardens close to                                                              the river

Level 3 - Pendula View                A pleasant but pricey neighbourhood with                                                                   Colonial style homes arranged around an                                                                   intersection

Level 4 - Sage Estates                Exclusive neighbourhood consists of 2                                                                       southern-style mansions with extensive                                                                       landscaping

Commercial District                     Located on the waterfront, the commercial                                                                   district has many historical southern-style                                                                  buildings for commercial or residential use

Magnolia Blossom Park              A historical community park set in a lush, green                                                         environment

Newcrest:

Level 1                                        There is no level 1 neighbourhood

Level 2 - Bridgeview                    Affordable neighbourhood with craftsman style                                                           homes built across the bridge from the canal

Level 3 - Llama Lagoon              Middle-class neighbourhood of American                                                                    colonial homes

Level 4 - Ridgeline Drive             Affluent neighbourhood overlooking the high-                                                             rise business district across the lake, featuring                                                           a mix of moderne and split-level style homes

Magnolia Promenade:

This riverside plaza is the main retail district built in a post-modern urban style. Although built for retail use, there are also apartments built above the retail units that can be turned to residential use. The Hospital and Police Station are within view of the promenade.

Windenburg:

Level 1 - Old Town                    A mix of residential and community lots in an                                                             open-spaced area built in a Tudor style

Level 2 - Waterside                   A modern area with many amenities close to the                                                        ocean built in a range of modern architectural                                                              designs

Level 3 - Countryside               The countryside is dominated by large, expensive                                                     timber-framed houses and some affordable                                                                cottages

Level 4 - Island                        An exclusive neighbourhood with a range of                                                               different building styles (from simple beach                                                                 houses to grand estates) surrounded by cliffs,                                                             beaches and ancient ruins

San Myshuno:

Level 1 - Spice Market             Low-end neighbourhood offers cramped                                                                     apartments in need of TLC, with brownstone                                                               buildings and dockside warehouses

Level 2 - Arts Quarter              Low to mid-rent apartment buildings in a                                                                     bohemian style overlooking a large, spacious                                                             plaza

Level 3 - Fashion District          Luxury apartments with spacious rooms and                                                              generous views of the city, features buildings                                                              with modern glass designs

Level 4 - Uptown                      High-class neighbourhood is home to the rich                                                              and famous, with luxury penthouse apartments.                                                          The spacious high-rise apartments give                                                                     panoramic views of the bay and civic plaza

Myshuno Meadows                  A large Centre Park surrounded by trees and                                                             expansive cityscapes, perfect for outdoor events

Brindleton Bay:

Level 1 - Whiskermans Wharf  Low-end harbor docks with refurbished warehouses                                       and cheap apartments above run-down community                                         buildings

Level 2 - Sable Square            Mid-century restored homes built along a charming                                                     square, with plenty of space for families and pets

Level 3 - Cavalier Cove           Sprawling coastal properties and secluded cottages                                                  all overlooking the coastal shores of the Bay

Level 4 - Deadgrass Isle         Once the site of a mysterious shipwreck Deadgrass                                                    Isle is home to the Brindleton Lighthouse and some                                                  mysterious apparitions…

Granite Falls:

Vacation district with campgrounds and rental chalets/cabins for exploring the wildrness

Salvadorada:

Vacation destination in a new culture, with camping or family villas full of excitement and adventure

[elmazen-blog]

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[jacobthespaceguy]

New life, new computer & new perspective.

I wrote this half a year ago and forgot to post this. Enjoy.

Dear Cosmonauts,

Greetings! It’s me, your boy! Did you miss me? No? Yeah, not too surprised. To be honest, I would be genuinely surprised if anyone actually read these. It’ll never stop me though. I love using this as some kind of escape. I think I’m trying to say that I’m officially back to blogging! Well actually, I never was in a state of, “blogging.” I just simply make a blog post every once in a while. So instead of being back, I guess I will simply start blogging more often. At the very least, try to. In an ideal world, I would create entries at least once a month, that’s not too much to ask for... just a few paragraphs every month. Sounds easy enough... On that note, it probably isn’t. But maybe it is. It depends on your personality.

Laziness. Saying laziness defines me is an understatement. I don’t want to be lazy nor do I wish I was. I’m honestly not too sure why I'm so lazy. I think this pandemic just made it really bad. Working from home 3/5 days of the week changes you. Early on, I figured I would be able to use this extra time to work on more music and I even started being a mixing/mastering engineer for a friend of mines. However, I ended up using this extra time to stay in bed and be useless. Some would say I'm being hard on myself but I'm not. I stay in bed and I waste my time, my friend's time, and overall, I'm just a useless human being. I feel like a failure sometimes. However, I do hold on to the hope that I can change. I want to change. Some days, I tell myself, "I'll be productive this time," but then stay in bed half the day. By the time I'm up and eaten breakfast and done my whole morning routine... it'll be 2 o'clock and the day is practically over. It's not really over, but it'll feel like it. It sucks. Now the pandemic is ending and I'll probably have to go back to work full time soon. I have no idea how I'm going to cope with that. I'm already depresso mode from things changing so much around me that I feel like a hermit and want to hide under my desk for the rest of my life. I hate change. I hate it, hate it, HATE IT. I know change is good and if my music career takes off, then they'll be a lot of change. Although, I would rather endure that kind of pressure than have to go back to work. Every day to get to my work is a 40-minute drive there, and an hour drive back since traffic is so bad. I know other people have it worse, but with how tired I am after a shift, I have days where I lay on my bedroom floor doing nothing and or nap until I finally get up to shower, eat dinner and finally get to the home activities I wanted to. However, at this point, it'll be 7 PM and I'm too tired to do anything other than watch YouTube videos until 1 AM, and then it's finally time to go to bed. It's a struggle and I can't seem to escape it.

I don't even know what I'm writing anymore and lost track of where I was going with this. I guess it's to complain about hating work and or my laziness? I originally started writing this post with the intention to talk about my new computer and how writing a blog post with it is a vibe. I bought a mid-2017 MacBook Pro back in August of 2019. It was the most absolute base model and only had 128 gb of storage and 8 gb of ram. WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF! I loved the flexibility of having a decent laptop for when I travel, but this was a bad purchase that left me financially ruined. I want to say that it was a terrible machine and I hated it. However, it ran decently most of the time and I must confess that Apple just knows what they're doing when designing computers. I can't argue though, since I started this blog, I became an Apple fanboy and I'm seriously buried in the Apple ecosystem. My phone, laptop, tablet at one point but sold, my credit card, my watch, earphones, and tracking devices are all connected to Apple and they basically run my life. However, my main machine will likely always be a Windows desktop.

Back to the MacBook Pro, my 2017 laptop having 128 gb made the machine unusable for me. Apple offering a 128 gb machine was a cardinal sin and I do the happy dance every morning knowing they no longer exist. After downloading Reason and Logic Pro, I had about 8 gb for any else I wanted to use. I couldn't even have all of Logic's sounds installed. Ugh. I never used the machine because I resented it so much. However, I recently started using it to record my vocals because the fans (despite going up 1000 db when I record in Reason) were quieter than having my desktop fans on when recording so I opted to use my MacBook Pro to record instead. In addition, it was really nice to have when I was on the go and needed a computer. Despite being a baseline laptop, it ran the project file for my song, "Nothing Was The Same," decently enough for me to get some mixing done at my Dad's house late last year. It still chugged pretty bad when I was traversing through Reason's sequencer. My final straw was when I wanted to try a vocal plug-in that refused to work on my PC so I pulled out my MacBook Pro and installed it on there and it worked perfectly. I was like, "Man, I wish this MacBook Pro just had a little more storage so I can actually use it efficiently." That's when the idea came to me, "Holy crap, let's just buy a new MacBook."

I would constantly go to Apple's website and look at their newest 16" MacBook Pro. It's when Apple finally let go of the butterfly switches on their keyboard and went back to a scissor-switch design and improved the heck out of the performance. It was a beautiful machine and I wanted it ever since they announced it. So I went back on Apple's website last week after testing that vocal plug-in and was reminded of the horrendous price. $3,000 for a decently specced computer was just too much. Someone on Reddit was telling me how great Apple's refurbished computers are and that they're basically brand new aside from the regular box it comes in. So I decided I wanted to get a refurbished MacBook Pro. However, the next morning, I decided to do a little more research and I thank God I did because after a little research, I saw how much better the new 13" M1 chip MacBook Pro was over the current 16" Intel MacBook Pro and that it was the best laptop to buy. Even better, it's cheaper. So after more research, I decided to buy a refurbished max specced out M1 MacBook Pro. I finally have 2 tb of storage. 2 TB!!! I have more storage on this laptop than on my Windows desktop. I also went with silver over space grey like my other MacBook simply because it looks so much cooler. I don't care for space grey anymore. Something about the classic silver is where it's at. Also, this keyboard is amazing! I'm using it right now to type this. The Touch Bar is pretty cool too. I thought it would be a weird adjustment but it was actually pretty seamless. My only complaint is that it's easier to tap it and do something while typing on the keyboard. Happened to me twice while typing this. Although, all I did was open the emoji window so it wasn't even an issue. However, I think I type a bit in an unconventional way than most of you reading this do so just ignore me. I would also like to brag about how quiet this computer is. I haven't heard the fan once and it's dead quiet. In fact, the M1 MacBook Air doesn't even have a fan, that's how good this new Apple silicon is. Lastly, I haven't had the computer heat up at all yet. I'm typing this using safari with a few tabs open, Logic Pro in the background and there's no part of the computer that's hot right now. My lap would've melted if I was using my 2017 MacBook and it's in great shape! I want to say this computer is a beast but, to be honest, I haven't had a chance to stress test it yet. I've had the computer for less than a week. I will definitely keep you all updated.

Wow, I can't believe I typed all of this simply because I imagined Adam Young in his basement late at night with his MacBook Pro writing his magnificent blog posts that inspired me to start this blog in the first place. For whatever reason, it's a real vibe for me and as I was fumbling through Logic Pro, I had the idea to write a blog and all of this entry just poured out from my brain to this text box. I sincerely apologize to anyone reading this far and to my future self who probably just spent 20 minutes proofreading and fixing errors I made. I'd imagine all the run-on sentences are probably infuriating. I think I spent 40 minutes to an hour just writing this.

In conclusion, I'm writing blog posts again and plan to release new entries at least somewhat often. I have quite a few ideas of things I want to talk about, so you guys will get to pick my brain soon enough. In addition, I may go public about this blog. It is public but I announced it a long time ago and I wasn't very big. But with my podcast and additional following over the years, I may finally get some readers. I'd be surprised if more than 3 people have seen my blog which I'm not upset about. I'm treating this as my personal time capsule and it's fun to go back and read. In addition, I'm going to die someday. I don't know when and how, but it provides a little bit of comfort knowing a potential love one may find this one day after my unfortunate death and get hours of personal content that they can read over any time. I don't mean to get morbid and I don't mean to say my blog is the second coming of Christ. I don't know what I'm saying other than I hope you enjoy it. Anywho, I plan to make blog posts more coherent and not so all over the place. I went from being lazy/hating work, MacBook Pros, and then to my death, all in the same post. I just got so excited once I started typing and couldn't stop. More posts to come. Thank you and goodnight.

-Sincerely,

Jacob McDonnell

[your-dietician]

Starting Nine: Revel in a generational moment in Atlanta sports

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/sports/starting-nine-revel-in-a-generational-moment-in-atlanta-sports/

Starting Nine: Revel in a generational moment in Atlanta sports

Give Freddie Freeman this: the man knows how to celebrate a spot in the All-Star Game.

Back in 2013, the night of the announcement of his first election, when he beat out the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig in the Final Vote — in the days when “Will Hug for Votes” T-shirts were all the rage — he followed it up with a three-hit, four-RBI night in a Braves’ win.

Thursday, a mere hour and a half after he was announced as the National League starter at first base for the third straight time, Freeman did it again, beating out an infield hit to deliver a 4-3 walk-off win over the Mets. That victory moved the Braves within two games of .500 with six against the Marlins and three vs. the Pirates remaining until the break.

There’s a heavy All-Star flavor as we dive into this week’s Starting Nine, but first, a nod to something special that’s happening in Atlanta, both on the diamond and the hardwood.

1. Revel in a generational moment in Atlanta sports

Travel back 36 years into Atlanta past, when the Braves’ Dale Murphy was the All-Star game’s leading vote-getter and Hawks’ Dominique Wilkins was prepping for a season in which he’d lead the NBA in scoring (30.3 points per game) in an All-Star season of his own that would end with a trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

It was a time capsule moment in the city’s sports history — and it’s happening again.

In Ronald Acuña Jr. — who lead all National League players in voting in this year’s All-Star balloting (2,510,041), en route to a Phase 2 win that gave him his second straight Midsummer Classic start — and Trae Young — whose ascension to the NBA’s upper crust has put the Hawks one step away from the NBA Finals, and Atlanta is basking in the glow of two captivating young stars.

While All-Star votes aren’t the definitive measuring stick of how beloved a player is — and we’ve seen a fanbase or two stuff the ballot box (ahem, Royals) a time or two — the Braves have had the top vote-getter just four other times with Hank Aaron in 1970 and ‘71, Murphy in ‘85 and Freddie Freeman in 2018. As beloved as Chipper Jones was, he never led the league in voting, and with the pitchers’ selections not up for fan vote, you can’t put the same ruler up to the popularity of the Big Three of Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.

By the time Chipper reached the majors, the Hawks had long shipped Wilkins out of town and in Jones’ entire run with the Braves, the Hawks never had a player rank in the top 20 in Player Efficiency Rating. Now, when Chipper was averaging 4.9 fWAR from 2002-05, he and the rest of Atlanta were operating in the shadow of Michael Vick amid his three Pro Bowl seasons with the Falcons, which included the then-22-year-old quarterback silencing Lambeau Field in ‘02. It may be the closest thing post-Murphy/Wilkins, and you can throw Freeman and the Falcons’ Matt Ryan/Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez in the mix, but when were any of their stars on the same level from the national perspective at the exact same time?

The idiosyncrasy of this summer is that we’re seeing the NBA’s shortened and delayed season stretch the playoffs into July, creating this opportunity for Young’s rise from fantastic watch to superstar level coinciding with Acuña leaving no doubt he’s in the conversation for best player in the game.

The embarrassment-of-riches factor of it all, is that this may be just the beginning. Young, after all, is just 22, less than a year Acuña’s junior. When Wilkins was dueling Michael Jordan in the dunk contest, Murphy was fading into a below-league average hitter. We may not have seen the heights of either of today’s stars.

Regardless, revel in the moment, Atlanta. Revel in the love fans in and outside the city are heaping on Acuña, and where Young’s rise has lifted the Hawks. Here, it only seems to come once every couple of generations.

2. Albies may have lost All-Star starter vote, but he’s still winning

The Braves will have two starters in Coors Field for the All-Star Game with Acuña and Freddie Freeman, but Ozzie Albies will have to wait until Sunday’s reserve announcement to see if he joins them. He was beaten out by the Pirates’ Adam Frazier, who claimed the start with 47 percent of the vote, but this was anything but an upset. While Albies has 43 extra-base hits to Frazier’s 32, and a slightly higher fWAR (2.6 to 2.5), Frazier has the better wRC+ (141 to 129) and among NL second basemen with at least 330 plate appearances he’s first in average (.327), on-base percentage (.395) and second in slugging (.471). But let’s not turn this into a debate over who should be starting at second for the NL. Albies is likely to still get a trip to Denver and is still basking in the afterglow of driving in seven with two homers as part of a five-hit performance in Wednesday’s 20-2 rout of the Mets. Albies became just the second Braves player with five hits, two homers and seven RBI, joining Joe Adcock in 1954 and is on pace for 89 extra-base hits in all, with 31 home runs and 48 doubles. Just six second baseman have had 30 or more homers and at least 40 doubles in a season, the last coming in 2012 with Robinson Cano, and it’s been done eight times in the last 20 years. He’s often lost in the shadow of Acuña (you did just make it through 500-plus words on his friend’s level of stardom) and Freeman, and last year’s injury-hampered 0.6 fWAR season may have skewed the perception outside of Atlanta but let this scorching first half of 129 wRC+ be a reminder of how bright his star is shining, All-Star starter or not. Since he broke into the league in 2017, Albies has been doing the extra-base hit thing better than any second baseman with 218. Only 75 players have had more extra-base hits in their first 500 games, and the only Braves with more are Eddie Mathews (236), Hank Aaron (233) and Wally Berger (231).

3. Freeman and the All-Star company he now keeps

Freddie Freeman is headed to the All-Star game as a starter for the third straight season, claiming 48 percent of the vote to beat out the Dodgers’ Max Muncy. He now finds himself in some extremely elite company in franchise history. He’ll become just the fifth Brave to start in at least three straight, following Wally Berger (1933-35), Hank Aaron (1957-60 and 1965-74), Eddie Mathews (1959-61) and Dale Murphy (1982-86). We’ve come a long way since eight years ago and that aforementioned Final Vote win, when Freeman set a record with 19.7 million votes (4.1 million votes ahead of the previous mark). That Freeman is the starter despite Muncy’s 3.2 fWAR being double that of Freeman speaks to either the power of the Atlanta fan base or the first baseman’s MVP resume, depending on your vantage point. But Freeman has carved out a place in Braves history at what is routinely one of the deepest positions in both leagues.

4. Austin Riley: The All-Star Case

His breakout season has been All-Star worthy, as he ranks third at the position in the NL with 126 wRC+, but is it enough to beat out the two guys ahead of him for the roster spot? The Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado, the league-leader at the position in fWAR (2.3) gets the start, while the Dodgers’ Justin Turner (140) and Cubs’ Kris Bryant (131) are 1-2 in wRC+. That accounts for the three players that made it to Phase 2 of the voting. Then there’s the Padres’ Manny Machado, who is nearly a full win over Riley’s 1.2 fWAR and tops the position with 4.7 defensive runs above average. Hitting a two-run home run off the Mets’ Jacob deGrom — just the fourth the MVP/Cy Young candidate has yielded this season — was a nice touch, but Riley’s best bet was hoping that Braves fans could force his way in via the ballot box. That didn’t happen, and he’s likely on the outside looking in.

5. Luke Jackson: The All-Star Case

We got into this a bit last week, but it’s worth digging back ahead of Sunday’s reveal. The biggest problem facing Luke Jackson aren’t his numbers — his 1.88 ERA is in the top 13 and he’s stranding a higher percentage of runners (98.7 percent) of any NL reliever — it’s the competition and the roster rules. Among the 12 pitcher spots, the starters have their no-brainers with likely game starter Jacob deGrom (Mets), Yu Darvish (Padres), Kevin Gausmanm (Giants), Dodgers’ Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer (Nationals), Zack Wheeler (Phillies) and Brandon Woodruff (Brewers) and you can expect to see Mark Melancon (Padres), Craig Kimbrel (Cubs) and Josh Hader (Brewers) among the relievers. If just one spot is up for debate, the Cardinals’ Alex Reyes (0.96 ERA and 20 saves) has a better resume, as does the Mets’ Edwin Diaz (11.65 K/9 and 10 saves) and Kenley Jansen (Dodgers) a bigger name, even if he is walking 5.51 per nine. Frazier getting the start at second could mean Richard Rodriguez (1.78 ERA and 10 saves) is no longer an option to take the Pirates’ guaranteed roster spot, but it’s tough to find a path for Jackson. There’s no longer shot among Braves, though Jackson’s turnaround after a 6.84 ERA 2020 has been one of the few bright spots on one of the NL’s worst bullpens.

6. Michael Harris II’s star just keeps rising

The Futures Game roster is absolutely loaded. The Orioles’ Adley Rutschman, Tigers’ Spencer Torkelson, Mariners’ Jarred Kelenic, Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. and the Yankees’ 18-year-old Jasson Dominguez are among the headlines of the 50 players selected to appear July 11 at Coors Field, and the Braves will be well represented too. Drew Waters, the franchise’s second-ranked prospect, is a no-brainer to earn a selection as the latest tools-laden outfielder the Braves have put on direct path to a spot in Atlanta, but Michael Harris II’s rise in making this roster has been simply astounding. The third-round pick in 2019 opened this season as Atlanta’s 10th-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline has been blistering A-ball pitching with a .320/.341/.477 slash line, five home runs and 12 doubles with 11 stolen bases and a 123 wRC+ in 43 games. The season-opening prospect rankings are laughable, and with Harris getting this kind of nod, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see his name rise way up when the prospect lists are updated in the coming weeks (in 2019, MLB Pipeline did its complete re-rank in July), likely making the top 100 and pushing Shea Langeliers for a top-three spot along with Waters and Cristian Pache. Harris has been generating tons of buzz since raking in spring training, and it doesn’t show any chance of slowing down with the Futures Game spotlight.

7. Happy anniversary to the Greatest Game Ever Pitched

This is not, I repeat not, a “get off my lawn” moment. It’s just that dialing it back a notable pitching duel that went down on this date in baseball history is a reminder of something we may never see again as Braves great Warren Spahn and the Giants’ Juan Marichal both threw 15 scoreless innings in 1963 before Willie Mayes hit a homer off Spahn in the 16th inning to give San Francisco a 1-0 victory. It’s pretty ridiculous and was the subject of a book by Jim Kaplan. No one has tossed 15 innings in a game since former Brave Gaylord Perry in 1974 when he was with the Indians. The last 14-inning start came via the A’s Steve McCatty in 1980 and the last time anyone threw 11 innings was another Oakland arm, Dave Stewart, in 1990. Even 10 innings in a game hasn’t been accomplished since Cliff Lee in 2012.

8. You get an HBP, and you get an HBP

Batters are being hit at an historic pace this season, with 1,034 as of this writing making MLB on pace for a record 2,088 in 2021. There was a record 1,984 in 2019, which broke the mark set in 2018 of 1,922, but let’s dial it back to a game that seems so 2020 by comparison. On this day in 1969, the Reds’ Gerry Arrigo hit three Braves in the second inning, and Cincinnati relievers would plunk two more, setting a modern-day record of five hit batters in a game, a mark that would stand until June 9, 2018 when the Astros hit six Rangers. In keeping with our All-Star theme, making up three of those hit by pitches in that 1969 game against the Reds, were the team’s All-Stars for that season, as Felix Millan had two HBPs and Aaron one.

9. ‘It has good wood’

Happy birthday to Tim Spehr, who had one of the most memorable debuts in Braves history, and that was about it. On July 14, 1997, just two days after he was called up from Triple-A, Spehr went 1-for-1 … with a grand slam in a 10-6 win over the Phillies. Spehr, who after the game admitted “I’m not a home run hitter. I was looking to drive the ball and got it up in the air a little,” was out of his comfort zone as bats hadn’t arrived from Richmond, so the catcher used one from the clubhouse. The result was his connecting on the home run off Philadelphia starter Tyler Green, for what was Spehr’s ninth HR in six MLB seasons. “It has good wood,” he said after the game. “I hope I don’t break it.” He’d last just eight games with the Braves, hitting .214 in 14 plate appearances.

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[gabrielagoodiss]

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[tabloidtoc]

National Examiner, October 19

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: The Rock Hudson only his friends knew 

Page 2: Angela Lansbury -- keeping screen memories alive at age 95 

Page 4: Stars Rockin’ the Blues -- Julianna Margulies, Jennifer Garner, Amy Poehler 

Page 5: Cicely Tyson, Tina Fey, Allison Janney 

Page 6: Bindi Irwin who’s been keeping the world informed on the progress of her happy pregnancy with husband Chandler Powell has proudly revealed the sex of her baby-to-be: it’s a girl 

Page 7: Chips off the Old Block -- star fathers and sons who share great genes -- Pierce Brosnan and Sean Brosnan and Dylan Brosnan and Christopher Brosnan, Rob Lowe and sons Matthew Lowe and John Lowe, Clint Eastwood and Kyle Eastwood and Alison Eastwood and Scott Eastwood, James Caan and Scott Caan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joseph Baena, Mel Gibson and Milo Gibson, Bruce Springsteen and Sam Springsteen and Patti Scialfa and Evan Springsteen and Jessica Springsteen 

Page 9: After 40 long years of suffering Yoko Ono has finally received an apology from Mark David Chapman for the shooting death of husband John Lennon -- following a recent hearing in which he was denied parole for the 11th time the killer says he thinks about that nightmarish night all the time and understands that he may spend the rest of his life behind bars, Dolly Parton was so poor as a child that the family couldn’t afford a doctor and her mother had to reattach her toes after an accident with the same needle she used to make quilts -- Dolly was about six or seven and had jumped across a fence onto a broken Mason jar and cut three of her toes and her mother put cornmeal to absorb the blood and put kerosene on it for antiseptic and her mother took her sewing needles and sewed the toes back on 

Page 10: An 18-year-old man from Connecticut has been honored as a hero by police for a daring rescue in which he pulled a family of four from a burning vehicle 

Page 11: Your Health -- up your metabolism to shake off the pounds 

Page 12: Evil Curse Haunts Horror Flicks -- these behind-the-scenes stories will make you shiver -- The Conjuring, The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, The Omen 

Page 13: Poltergeist, Psycho, The Possession, Annabelle, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcism of Emily Rose 

Page 14: Dear Tony -- reincarnation continues until Karma is completed

Page 15: Jane Fonda went skinny-dipping with Michael Jackson -- Jane was in the process of making On Golden Pond when her friend Michael came to stay with her for a week and he slept on a mattress that he pulled out on the floor of the living room while she slept in the loft upstairs

Page 16: Goofy Goldie Hawn -- she embarrasses her kids but they love her to pieces 

Page 18: People in a North Carolina city are serious about spelling and rising up in protest over a new street sign that spells Autumn Autum

Page 20: Cover Story -- Tribute to handsome Rock Hudson 45 years after his tragic death 

Page 22: Two homeless men who live in a busted-up van care so much about their community that they get up before dawn every day to keep the streets clean without pay 

Page 24: Movie megastar Tom Cruise is getting ready to go where no actor has gone before -- to the International Space Station -- the actor known for pushing the boundaries and taking risks on his successful Mission: Impossible films will now be on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on its scheduled October 2021 trip to the ISS

Page 25: A struggling taco truck owner arrived at work one morning to see a line of customers stretching back as far as the eye could see and he didn’t know it but his daughter had put out the word on social media on his behalf and it got startling results 

Page 26: The Good Doctor -- you may have heart disease and not even know it

Page 28: Best ways to care for your toothbrush 

Page 40: These foods burn more calories than they contain 

Page 44: Eyes on the Stars -- Artem Chigvintsev and Nikki Bella and their baby son Matteo (picture), Chef David Burtka celebrates the release of The Tale of Tofu series (picture), Helen Mirren at a charity bash in Monaco (picture), Joe Montana thwarted the kidnapping of his nine-month-old granddaughter during a home invasion -- Joe and his wife Jennifer were at their Malibu residence when a woman later identified as Sodsai Dalzell entered and tried to make off with the sleeping baby but a tussle ensued and the grandparents were able to safely pry the child out of the suspect’s arms, Blake Shelton says the clip he made with girlfriend Gwen Stefani for their duet Happy Anywhere is maybe his favorite video he’s ever had 

Page 45: Chris Rock and Louis C.K. kick back in a NYC park (picture), Jennie Garth cuddles her recently adopted rescue pup Fauci (picture), Kelsey Grammer steps out in London (picture), Demi Lovato’s romance and engagement to Max Ehrich is over, Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara’s new baby was named after his late brother River, Billie Lourd announced the birth of her son without ever publicly revealing her pregnancy, Emma Stone and Mark McCary (oops) were recently spotted wearing matching wedding bands during a stroll in LA, Princess Beatrice recently chatted about her surprise summer wedding to Edo Mapelli Mozzi, homesick Mark Consuelos is counting down the days until he’s reunited with wife Kelly Ripa because he’s in Canada filming Riverdale 

Page 46: Dozens of farmers in North Dakota put their own harvesting on hold to cut 1000 acres for a fellow land owner who suffered a sudden heart attack 

Page 47: Who will be the first woman on the moon? NASA plans to land the first woman on the moon in 2024 and here are the fearless women in the running to be part of the ambitious Artemis plan 

[junker-town]

Can the worst college basketball program ever win a video game national championship?

The quest to win a national title with Western Illinois in “College Hoops 2K8.”

The College Hoops 2K series is one of the great forgotten gems of sports gaming at the end of the of the ‘00s. While the NBA 2K franchise seemingly grows in popularity every year and exists as one gaming’s biggest annual releases, its college counterpart was discontinued after the 2K8 edition amid a licensing battle with EA Sports before the O’Bannon lawsuit eventually shut down college sports videos game as we know them.

College Hoops 2K8 has Greg Oden on the cover. It features the likeness of Stephen Curry as a sophomore on Davidson, Derrick Rose as a freshman on Memphis, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook on UCLA, James Harden on Arizona State, and Tyler Hansbrough on North Carolina.

The rosters alone would make this a fun time capsule of one of the strongest college basketball seasons in recent memory, but the game itself is so much deeper than that. There’s an incredible amount of detail packed into this game, from shooting lines before tip-off to a studio show hosted by Greg Gumbel to impressive game play that stands the test of time more than a decade later.

The real gold mine of College Hoops 2K8 is found in career legacy mode, where you start off as a poorly-rated coach with the choice of only low-major schools to take over at the start of a 40-year career. As you go through the game, your coach gains attribute points as you accomplish certain goals, and eventually bigger schools offer you a job.

I have played through way too many dynasties in this game since it was released at the end of my own college years — never actually playing the games, but simming through the seasons and doing the recruiting. Typically, that ends with you taking a job like North Carolina or Kentucky or UCLA. What if you never left the school you started off with?

That spawned the idea that we’re presenting today: this is the start of a running series attempting to turn the Western Illinois Leathernecks into NCAA champions, a team that has never made the NCAA tournament and has one above .500 finish in the last 22 years. In a world where March Madness is canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, there’s no better way to get your college basketball fix in.

Let’s start off by answering some basic questions about the game.

How does recruiting work?

The game generates a ton of new recruits every year. There are typically about 25 five-star prospects, and the rest of the top-100 players are four-star prospects. There are also JUCO players and international players rated on the same scale.

There are four basic options on how to recruit: visiting a player, scouting a player, calling a player and sending an email to a player. A player’s interest is measured on a scale that goes up to 100 percent. Once a player gets above 75 percent interest, they can tour the school, which is the most effective recruiting tool and can only be used once.

Why is this going to be challenging?

Low-major programs get the fewest recruiting points. The two most effective ways of recruiting — visits and scouting — cost the most points. For elite programs, coaches can get in five visits or scouting trips per week. For a school like Western Illinois, you only get two plane trips to visit or scout per week. That makes it difficult to land quality players, especially in classes where you have four or five open scholarships to fill.

Each recruit has three different priorities that are revealed the longer you recruit them. One of them is “playing at a big program” — which basically automatically disqualifies a school like Western Illinois. The other priorities — feeling wanted, being close to home, getting good coaching, getting playing time — could still work in favor of a school like WIU, depending on the circumstances.

Staying at one school for the entirety of the legacy also means there will be certain coaching goals that can’t be reached, so that’s one less attribute point to eventually improve my coach. For example: “get hired by a larger conference team” and “get hired by a power conference team” are both automatically off the table. It’s also going to be damn hard to hit “coach a team to the No. 1 ranking” or “sign a five-star recruit” or “win the national championship” — among others.

So you won’t be playing any of the game — just simming them?

That’s right. I reserve the right to watch the computer actually play the simulated game though, especially if it’s in the NCAA tournament.

OK, finally, let’s get to it.

Year One

The first thing you have to do after creating a coach is assign the five coaching attribute points. I’m choosing to put all of mine into charisma, because that’s the category that helps you land recruits.

Call me Ricky Charisma. After hiring my assistant coaches and locking in the schedule for the season, it’s time to check out the roster.

It ain’t pretty.

Because no one really cares about how “SG No. 1” plays, my writing during this first season is going to primarily focus on recruiting (there will be more focus on the games, the rankings, and the standings moving forward). We need to add some talent to this program. Fortunately, I have four open scholarships to work with.

I’m not even going to waste my time looking at four- and five-star recruits. My best bet here to find three-star players, ideally ones who are ranked in the top-200 of their class. It won’t be easy in the opening season, but my coach’s B+ charisma should help.

Because of the limited recruiting points I’m going to have, it’s vital to hit on the first recruits I reach out to. My first visit goes to 6’7 power forward Bud Richards out of Madison, Wisconsin, which means he’s a regional recruit for me. He’s ranked No. 133 overall and the No. 43 power forward. I also fly out to visit point guard Bert Bronson, the No. 168 overall recruit, in Aurora, Colorado.

After the first week, neither seem like a good bet. Bronson has significantly more interest from Wyoming, while Richards has both Northwestern and Iowa State in front of me.

In better news, I win my first game against Morehead State.

My target list of recruits is looking dire going into the next week. Every player has more interest in a bigger school after one week than they do in Western Illinois. I notice Wyoming also has interest in another point guard on my target list who is ranked even higher than Bronson, so I decide to not give up on Bronson yet and fly out to recruit him again before sending him an offer. I’m bailing on Richards. Instead I fly out to see Ferdinand Thompson, a 6’8 power forward out of Atlanta ranked No. 173 in his class. My man hit 40 percent three-pointers on the AAU circuit, so I’m thinking he could possibly play three different positions for me if I get him.

I also throw out offers to Alvin Cable, the No. 9 overall center from Aurora, Illinois, and Jerimie Sommerville, the No. 17 center from Pembroke Pines, Florida, as insurance if I don’t get Cable. I need bigs.

Cable gets an offer from Illinois State immediately. He’s much more interested in them, so I’m pulling my offer. I am sitting pretty with Thompson. Bronson looks like a possibility too as I continue to lead.

Miami has a big lead for Sommerville, but they haven’t offered him yet, and I’m in second with his only offer. I have to hope they don’t offer him all year and I’m able to land him in the spring. My final scholarship offer now goes to Elijah Meyer, a 6’ shooting guard out of Savannah, Georgia, ranked No. 143 overall.

I win my rivalry matchup with Eastern Illinois the next week. This is Leatherneck country, baby. A win over Radford makes it 3-0 heading into signing week. Thompson is up to 85 percent interest, but he’s likely not signing early. Bronson will also have to be a spring signing in a best-case scenario.

Recruits can commit during two periods — the early signing period at the end of December, or during the offseason. No one commits on the first signing week, but I have a big lead for Thompson. Bronson is looking up too, after Wyoming drops off his board completely. I’m the only school on there, even though it’s still far from a lock at 65 percent interest. Miami still hasn’t offered Sommerville and Meyer remains a long shot.

Well, hell: Sommerville gets the Miami offer and signs with the Hurricanes at the end second week of signing period. Damn.

I guess Coral Gables sounds a little nicer than Macomb. I decide to use that scholarship offer on Marvin Cisse, a 6’5 shooting guard out of Roanoke, Virginia, who is ranked No. 182 in his class (and the No. 32 shooting guard). I figure I can move him to small forward in the unlikely event I land him and Meyer. I also start looking for centers as backup options.

Damn, a new challenger appears for Bronson: Colorado. Given that his second priority is “playing at a big program,” I am getting worried I’ll lose him. Maybe his first priority being “feeling wanted” means I still have a chance?

Also, Meyer gets an offer from another school who was already above me in interest, so I drop out. I use my scholarship to offer another point guard, Utah’s Hesse Gosley, ranked No. 146 overall and the No. 40 player at his position, as a backup plan to losing Bronson.

Meanwhile, I beat Youngstown State and ride into conference play at 5-3.

As I start conference play, Colorado passes me for Bronson before even offering him. I’m gonna ride it out until he has an offer. On the court, I go 0-2 in the first week of conference play. Not great. Then I lose the next two conference games as well. Even worse. Also: Bronson gets an offer from Colorado. That’s devastating. Gosley gets an offer too, this one from Weber State, so I drop him as well.

Armed with freshly available scholarships, my first offer goes to ... Bud Richards, the first player I visited in this class back in the first week. DePaul and Northwestern both have maxed out interest for him, but neither have offered. Hoping I can sneak in come spring if neither have an available scholarship for him. Next offer goes to center Jerry Gooden, ranked No. 359 overall and No. 26 at his position. Jacksonville is already maxed out in interest for him but he doesn’t have an offer. I’ll give him his first.

On the court, I win three straight in conference. I spend the next few weeks trading off wins and losses, and hit my first achievement point when I get to 10 wins in a season. Woo!

I’m using all my flying points on Richards right now. Going for the miracle grab with DePaul and Northwestern still maxed out on his interest without an offer. I’m also sitting pretty with my power forward Ferdinand Thompson and it’s looking up with Cisse, as well.

Regular season is over, and so is the in-season recruiting period. I’m heading into the conference tournament at 14-12 overall and 10-8 in the Summit League. That draws me a first round matchup with IUPUI in the conference tournament. My Leathernecks are a 69 overall, they’re a 74. I reassemble my rotation based on my players’ mid-season improvements. I start using my pep talks to boost their confidence.

And I lose, 73-59.

Year one is over. At least I finished over .500 at 14-13 overall. That’s another achievement point. I also get an achievement point for going a full season without an unhappy player.

North Carolina wins the national title behind Tyler Hansbrough as a junior. He’s a 91 overall, which feels low. Sheesh, those are some gigantic numbers, even better than what he actually put up as a junior. Bill Self now has no national championships :-(

I get three achievement points to add to my coach and put them all in charisma. A+ charisma y’all. That should help recruiting.

Spring recruiting

I sign Ferdinand Thompson right away. That’s my first recruit. No. 173 overall and No. 47 power forward. Huge. The nice thing about power forwards is that you can typically switch them between the 3-4-5 without losing too many points on their overall rating. I’m a little worried about his ability to move to center given these block numbers, but the scoring, rebounding, three-point AAU stats are encouraging. He’ll be good.

I lose out Gooden. But oh shit, Richards now has no other suitors. DePaul and Northwestern must not have had an available offer for him. We end up offering another center, Vasilis Scheer, No. 27 at his position. Seems like a long shot.

Richards signs with Western Illinois the next week. Hell yeah. My second power forward, this one 6’7, 204 pounds. No. 133 overall and No. 43 power forward. My bad scouts tell me he has B+ potential. Good enough for me.

I pull the offer from Scheer with two bigs on board and offer Andre Wiedemann, a 6’2 point guard out of LA who is ranked No. 288 overall and the No. 84 point guard. Just trying to get some guards in here.

I sign Cisse the next week. Dope. Shooting guard ranked No. 182 overall and No. 32 at his position. Look at these monster AAU stats:

Five rebounds and five assist per game with 1.1 blocks and steals with solid scoring? King. We’ll worry about the outside shooting later.

I land Wiedemann to close out the week. Western Illinois ends the offseason with four recruits in my first year, all three stars. Great start.

After I set my schedule, let’s take a first look at the new roster.

Hell yeah. My three best players are freshmen and four of my top five.

Richards is by far the best player on the team right away at 75 overall, with C+ potential, the highest of anyone on the roster (everyone else is C or C- potential). Richards also already grew an inch, up to 6’8 now. We’ll move Thompson to center — easily big enough for the five in the Summit League at 6’8, 252 pounds — and a starting front court for the next four years. My guy Ferdinand has style:

Cissie moves to the three and also maintains his overall rating of 69. Four freshmen in the starting lineup, y’all.

Onto year two, with four more open scholarships to fill.

To be continued.

[wp-yahoo-style-1042-yahoopa-blog]

The Ultimate Valentine’s Day Gift Guide

This Valentine’s Day, don’t wait until the last minute to show your loved ones how much you they mean to you. Ditch the box of chocolates, and go the extra mile with this year’s gift. We’re certain they will appreciate it that much more and perhaps reward you too.

To help you narrow down the search, we rounded up the best Valentine’s Day gifts for everyone on your list, whether it’s for her, him, your BFF, or even yourself!

Read More:

Heart-Shaped Valentine’s Day Gear You Know You Want

Tom Brady’s the MVP, But Gisele Wins for Most Valuable Fan 

Designer Karen Walker Transforms Herself in Her New Ad Campaign

Follow Yahoo Style on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.

Valentine’s Day gifts for her

For your newly minted crush or the girl of your dreams, this guide is for the main lady love in your life.

Source: Yahoo Style

Kenzo x Valentines

Tiger sweatshirt, $270, kenzo.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Bottega Veneta

Bracelet in China red intrecciato nappa, $250, bottegaveneta.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Burberry

Medium rucksack in technical nylon and leather, $1,250, burberry.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Blush lingerie

Intime two-piece gift set, $78, blushlingerie.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Cathy’s Concepts

Personalized wine decanter and stemless glass set, $180, JCPenney.com

Source: Yahoo Style

EF Collection

Ruby trio stack ring, $325, efcollection.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Gucci

Blind for Love leather iPhone 6 case, $270, matchesfashion.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Hermès

Brides de Gala Love silk twill scarf, $395, hermes.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Venus et Fleur

Design your own box, large box starting at $499, venusetfleur.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Louis Vuitton

LV & ME Love Bracelet, $435, available at select Louis Vuitton stores, call 1-866.VUITTON for more details or visit, louisvuitton.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Julia Restoin Roitfeld for Didier Doubt

Limited edition 18K poppy hair band with black diamonds and red glass, $28,600, latestrevival.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Agent Provocateur

Seraphina bra in red, $300, agent provocateur.com Seraphina tie side in red, $165, agentprovocateur.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Minnie Mouse x Gray Malin Collaboration

The Leading Lady horizontal red carpet, starting at $299, graymalin.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Tiffany & Co.

Soleste earrings in platinum with rubellites and diamonds, $13,000, tiffany.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Caviar Kaspia

Take your lady to dinner at the special pop-up restaurant of Caviar Kaspia, the iconic Parisian landmark that has been serving delectable French cuisine since 1927, which is located at Spring Place in New York City for a limited time. Call 917-282-9937, or email caviarkaspia@springplace for more information. springplace.com/caviar-kaspia

Source: Yahoo Style

Simone LeBlanc

Mini Midnight Beauty Gift Box, $50, simoneleblanc.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Valentine’s Day gifts for him

Whether you’ve been dating for six weeks, six months, or six years — this gift guide is for your main man squeeze.

Source: Yahoo Style

Filson

Medium duffle bag, $395, filson.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Dries Van Noten

Square-frame polished-acetate sunglasses, $390, mrporter.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Izola

Stainless steel flask in gold, $40, bespokepost.com

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Gentleman’s Agreement

Box, $109, yoox.com

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Hill House Home

The Truman robe, $299, hillhousehome.com

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Datebox

Adventure Box, starting at $40, getdatebox.com

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Jil Sander

Sneakers, $595, jilsander.com

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Max ’n Chester

Oversized long-sleeve crew with paint splatter, $110, available at Letter J 557 W. 2rd St., New York City. Call 212-366-4451 for more details, maxn-chester.myshopify.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Miansai

Harbour rucksack in black, $225, miansai.com

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Penhaligon’s

Sartorial Eau de Toilette, $92, penhaligons.com

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Oliver Cabell

Jackson cardholder, $78, olivercabell.com

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Skagen

Signatur leather watch in brown/silver, $125, available at Skagen, 1585 Broadway, New York City. Call 845-384-1221 for more details.

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The Kooples

Gingham shirt with button-down collar and grosgrain details, $108, thekooples.com

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Gray Malin

The Lisbon case for iPhone 6/7, $49, graymalin.com

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Vetements

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RdV’s

Bordeaux Rendezvous, $75, members.rdvvineyards.com

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Valentine’s Day gifts for your BFF

These gifts are for the person who always has your back through thick and thin — every heartbreak and every relationship. Show your BFF how much you love them with these gifts.

Source: Yahoo Style

Pop & Suki

BFF Heart, $45, popandsuki.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Pressed Juicery

Send a free 2 oz. Juice Gram (redeemable in stores only until Feb. 14) featuring the new, limited edition strawberry almond flavor, or buy a regular 8 fl. oz. bottle for $8, pressedjuicery.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Candles by Lola James Harper

$50 each, loveadorned.com

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Rodarte

Pink hoodie, $205, rodarte.com

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Fossil

Tailor multifunction blush leather watch, $135, fossil.com

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BoxFox

Going Steady, $110, shopboxfox.com

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Cotton On Body

The Plush slipper, $12, cottonon.com

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Agnona

Knit bear, $200, saksfifthavenue.com

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Deborah Lippmann

Message in a Bottle collection, $64, deborahlippmann.com

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Pommery Pop

Bottle, $12-$15, available at Sherry-Lehmann, 505 Park Ave., New York City. Call 212-838-7500 for more details.

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Lano

Tinted balm in rose, $18, shen-beauty.com

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Rebecca Taylor

Noted NYC floral jacquard card, $7, rebeccataylor.com

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Henri Bendel

Limited edition bouquet scented candle, $40, henribendel.com

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Gia Coppola

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Typo

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Betty and Veronica by Rachel Antonoff

Black Denim Jacket, $188, bettyandveronica.com bettyandveronica.com

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Vans

Hearts Ringer Tee, $24.50, vans.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Valentine’s Day gifts for you

As much as we all love to shower our loved ones with gifts of love and affection, sometimes we need a little love for ourselves too, no? Here are the gifts to treat yourself this Valentine’s.

Source: Yahoo Style

Waterfall espadrille, $650, louisvuitton.com

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Just One Eye

Bamboo jewelry coffret, $2,230, justoneye.com

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Krewe

Orleans rose gold, titanium + camellia, $295, krewe.com

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Paravel

Crossbody capsule in Bebop, $225, tourparavel.com

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Brother Vellies

Flamingo Kaia boot, $495, brothervellies.com

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KitchenAid

Artisan 5 qt. stand mixer, $350, kohls.com

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Rose des Vents, $240, louisvuitton.com

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Kule

The modern Love T-shirt, $78, kule.com

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M2Malletier

Mini Collectionneuse in ivory/bright pink suede color block, $1,170, similar style available at intermix.com or call +1 855.446.4943 for more details

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Neely & Chloe

His & Hers luggage tag set, $56, neelyandchloe.com

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Raden

A22 carry-on, $295, raden.com

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Amber Sceats

Nik ring, $89, ambersceats.com

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Staud

Yoshi blouse in bordeaux, $165, staud.clothing

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Shu Uemura

Glaze treatment masque, $68, shuuemuraartofhair-usa.com

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Vince Camuto

Off-the-shoulder bell sleeve dress, $119, vincecamuto.com

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L’Officine Universelle Buly

Lait Virginal (Scented Body Milk), $56, buly1803.com

Source: Yahoo Style

Eddie Borgo

Chet Minaudière Jet/Riby. $1,490,eddieborgo.com

Source: Yahoo Style

[trysupplementplatform-blog]

Xtreme Fit 360 And Max NO2 Reviews - Shocking Side Effect

Xtreme Fit 360 and Max NO2 are a great combination to incorporate into your fitness routine if you are looking to maximize muscle gains and workouts.

Regardless of hard workout moment and ingestion of supplementation supply one may not experience the consequences they ask subsequent to it. Even meals enriched with protein and vitamin may not be adequate because if body is missing testosterone and growth hormone, then all shifts would go off a dissipate one. Male group generally suffer with low testosterone after crossing 40 and possibly will undergo from squat energy and staying power level.

Growth hormones are all responsible for delivering smooth nutrition value to male physique but that could only be accelerated if you consider natural supplements to your diet. However if you opt for any particular supplement then consider Xtreme Fit 360. It’s all about experiencing quality outcomes in less duration of time since it’s a great testosterone boosting supplement source. Let’s find out a few details related to the supplement through a brief review mentioned below…

Xtreme Fit 360: An Introduction

Xtreme Fit 360 is a strength enhancing as well as endurance boosting supplement source, composed with varied blend of natural herbs and tropical plant extracts. The formula helps to deliver quick results in creating lean muscle mass with no extra efforts. As soon as user starts its course schedule they may get a great boost of energy that would allow for a harder and longer workout sessions at gym. It simply accelerates the formation of testosterone in male body that also helps to improve the libido level for better sex drive. If you are suffering from the troubles of erectile dysfunction or low ejaculation time these entire discomfort would get repaired naturally.

According to manufacturers if product is used for consistent time duration they would simply experience even better outcomes. The ingredients added to it are clinically tested and FDA approved that never create any negative effect. Stiffed muscles, shaped abs and hard biceps are all a result to experience every time with its use. The product comes along with a second step Max NO2 that must also be added to routine for sufficient results.

Ingredients Added to Xtreme Fit 360

The manufacturing process of Xtreme Fit 360 goes through various clinical tests and studies where ingredients are tested with their efficiency as well as negative sides. Only those ingredients are formulated that have natural health enhancing ability. There are no additions made of any chemicals or hazardous substances to this supplement and ingredients are only added in required percentage to avoid its reaction. The ingredients addition made here belong to tropical plants and herbs, which include…

Horny Goat Weed

Tongkat Ali

Boron

Minerals

Saw Palmetto

Vitamins

Sarsaparilla

Antioxidants

Maca Root Extracts

Ginseng Extracts

Why Xtreme Fit 360 to Select Every time

The product is going viral on internet due to varied efficiency and advantages that it is delivering on individual’s health. There are some reasons to choose this formula since it is bringing some exclusive advantages on health such as…

Improved Physique Style

It’s all associated with reinventing your physique build as well as capacity since formula allows improving the endurance and energy level. This step allows for a harder and faster workout sessions at gym resulting out in lean muscle mass build along with shaped abs.

Fast Results and Recovery Time

As soon as you start using the trial course of Xtreme Fit 360 it would allow the body to accelerate the growth hormone production with a boost to energy level, and would all result out in fast results with the bodybuilding session. The supplement has efficiency to enhance the muscle recovery time to help in making future workout sessions at gym easily. Slowly the strength and stamina would keep on climbing day by day with the use of formula.

Enhanced Sexual Desires

Xtreme Fit 360 has another capability to accelerate the sexual desires in men body by enhancing the flow of testosterone. It also works quickly to repair the erectile dysfunction and bring back your harder and long lasting penis erection. It has capacity to accelerate the ejaculation time with high orgasm to make your bed moves longer and bring back a charm to sex life. The sex life would all get charged and would continue for long terms as it is, with no appearance of any side effects.

How to Use the Formula?

Using Xtreme Fit 360 doesn’t requires any special prescription or schedule to follow since it’s a non prescribed supplement source that could be used without a worry anytime. Every man who asks for ripped muscle as well as best sexual moves must continue with it. It is all simple to start with its course schedule, as one bottle supply consists of 60 capsules and must be consumed twice daily with plenty of water and fat free food. If you are during its schedule never exceeding the recommended dose quantity as it may harm your health in few cases. For better outcomes it’s necessary to go with its second step additionally named as Max NO2. The results received after the use of this supplement may vary from person to person depending on their health condition as well as the way of formula use.

Will It Be Safe to Use?

Xtreme Fit 360 simply works through a three step process where it gets penetrated to your blood stream after it is consumed. After getting mixed with blood it allows for a high testosterone production that results in fast muscle build, quick recovery time, high sex drive and natural fat burning process. So with this process it’s simple to guess that working procedure of the supplement is all natural and safe. As mentioned earlier that it is consumed with all natural herbs and plant sources so there doesn’t arrives any kind of negative effects with it.

The users who have used this supplement have never received or complained about the bad sides of the formula and still continuing with it confidently. There is hardly a single case registered with the negative sides of formula. You also need to know that there is no addition made of any chemicals or fillers to it. Still the only limitation of formula is that it must not be consumed by minors who are below 18 years of age as well as going under medical prescription. If you receive any kind of irritation after the use immediately stop its use and get consulted with physician.

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Perry Mason Episode 6 Review: Chapter Six

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This Perry Mason review contains spoilers.

Perry Mason Episode 6

Perry Mason, “Chapter Six,” delivers the title character’s courtroom debut. For a man who is going to embody an icon of courtroom drama, Perry Mason is off to a much less than auspicious start. Matthew Rhys coughs, stammers, makes self-effacing jokes as he stumbles into objectionable oratory and forgets to bring water to court before he even makes it through the first paragraph of his opening statement.

His worthy opponent, District Attorney Maynard Barnes (Stephen Root), is just finishing his two-hour opening statement as the episode opens, and we can tell it went flawlessly. He is a veteran attorney and an effective showman, who is so fully prepared he even brought an extra glass for Mason. The defense attorney goes as long as he can before he takes that glass, and immediately tries to douse the prosecution’s fiery salvos.

The trial scenes are fun to watch. The actors treat the trial court like a basketball court and the guilt and innocence is the ball. Root plays keep-away, not exactly dominating the game, but covering Mason so tight he can barely dribble. When Mason finally spins out, Rhys sinks a 3-pointer into nothing but net from 40 feet out, only to get called on a shooting foul.

Things get better for Mason on cross examination. While Matthew Dodson (Nate Corddry) doesn’t break down and confess on the stand, Mason certainly gets under his skin. Is Herman Baggerly (Robert Patrick) a wealthy guy, the attorney wants to know about the witness’ recently discovered father, who has a vested interest in the case. “Up there with Vanderbilt and Ford,” Mason informs the jury, which is more than Matthew did for his wife.

The judge has to repeatedly warn the witness how close he is to being jailed for contempt. But the contempt Mr. Dodson throws at his wife Emily (Gayle Rankin), registers on the jury in ways which still sting at Mason’s case. The testimonial breakdown must be signs of things to come, as this will be the defense lawyer’s signature gimmick.

Stephen Root can play off anyone, but some witnesses refuse to play nice. In DA Barnes’ courtroom scenes with Mason there are multiple connections made between the two actors. In his briefing with Detective Ennis (Andrew Howard) there is a major disconnect, but not in the acting, which is amazing.

Ennis is very reluctant, a hostile witness even in the friendly environment of the District Attorney’s office. Ennis’ partner pulls a great scene out of the wreckage. He smashes up a beloved car and ends with a vow to protect his corrupt partner even if someone has to die over it.

Ennis is a compelling antagonist and Howard does a fantastic job unambiguously playing moral ambiguity. He’s corrupt, so what? He was trained to be corrupt by the best. It’s just a job gone wrong. What’s the big deal? I got mouths to feed. Howard gives these one-dimensional excuses meaning and depth. He, more than any other actor on the series, is a time capsule of the period.

Read more

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Perry Mason Season 2 Confirmed by HBO

By Joseph Baxter

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HBO Max New Releases: August 2020

By Alec Bojalad

Officer Paul Drake feels the crush of the period, and Chris Chalk allows him to awaken to it with strong reluctance.  When Drake goes on the stand and allows Mason to hold back damning evidence because of some promise he made, Chalk walks an emotional tightrope. He goes from utter fear to a palpable desire to come clean, occasionally within eye-blinks. He has a love/hate relationship with the one piece of evidence, a denture-break-off, which can save an innocent woman from the gas chamber.

Mason’s “just fishing” line is very telling. He keeps a promise and loses an opportunity, but Drake’s anguish is a creaky doorway to a scary cellar. As a Black police officer, Drake can’t even arrest a white criminal. A white murderer gets to look down on him. When he takes the money for making the whole division look good in court, Chalk makes it look like he’s playing Judas bagging blood money.  His pregnant wife has to get out of town while he makes it right. Of course, this being HBO’s Perry Mason, it all starts with a bit of legal trickery.

Mason and Peter Strickland (Shea Whigham) chafe over their new distribution of duties. There is a great scene where Strickland basically spoon feeds Mason his investigative findings. Strickland goes on to get spit on by a toothless old-timer, commit ad hoc mail fraud, and ultimately be out-wiseassed on the job by a lady county clerk. But between him and Della Street, who wills success through the power of pertinent curiosity, Mason’s team comes up with the goods, as bad as they are. George Gannon was stealing from the church for the church.

The investigation and courtroom scenes play off each other well. Each adds context and suspense to the other. The music helps piece it together as discovery gets its own theme music. The new player in the conspiracy, Seidel, is a church man. Everything points back to where it begins, ends and centers. Street and Strickland dance separately around the clues, but pirouette into Mason’s lane. Sometimes it is a trapeze act, and sometimes they miss each other by inches.

The matron Barbara Frye probably breaks a commandment on the stand and the charge against Emily goes from kidnapping to murder. This is a huge moment. It is done with an orchestral grace with Maynard conducting and the judge completely drowned out in the mix. It escalates to the symphonic glissando. The press runs to file copy and question the defendant on her way out of the courthouse. Led by Elder Brown (David Wilson Barnes), the Sister Alice (Tatiana Maslany) protesters block the steps with signs counting down the days to the resurrection. Jesus did it in three. Alice has ten until she is exposed.

Alice has taken beating after beating on stage and is ready to fall from grace if that is the divine plan. Her mother Birdy McKeegan (Lili Taylor) has a contingency plan: Run. She’s all packed, probably needed to get out anyway. But the slap across the face Birdy gives Alice is a shock.

The way Alice recoils, the shake in her hands and full body language, shows this has happened before. She is waiting for the next blow to fall. It is a brutal second of time. Alice is remembering a lot of things, Mama. Meanwhile Emily believes she will get off if Mason finds the real killer. We don’t know if she’s once again suffering hunger pains or truly out to lunch, a choice Della visibly ponders without saying a word.

In “Chapter Five,” John Lithgow’s son Ian Lithgow gave a drop dead impression as Byron Jonathan, the son of EB Jonathan. Tonight Rhys does it in his car after the trial. “How did it go, EB,” he asks himself and then mimics “a few observations” from his former mentor. It rises until he breaks down and Mason is screaming at EB. It is almost daring, yelling at a dead person like that, calling him a coward with true anger and no regret. Until you see it is all remorse and desperation.

“I’ve been waiting for you to find me,” says the man with the gun at the very closing scene, which encapsulates the pulpy fun of the series. Perry Mason isn’t only a good courtroom drama, it is good drama. All of the performances have necessary flaws. The action builds to nerve-wracking levels, and the breaths in between are mirrored by the characters.

Rhys wears his frustration openly. Chalk barely contains self-loathing. Rankin is naked in her misguided faith. Maslany welcomes failure. Mason’s girlfriend Lupe Gibbs (Veronica Falcón) is getting to be an annoying detail on the show. It is an unnecessary added blemish of cynicism. Rylance offsets this by bringing a sense of wonder into mundane snatches of paperwork. “Chapter Six” makes the most of its motley crew of ensemble players in a decisive win for a losing defense.

The post Perry Mason Episode 6 Review: Chapter Six appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[sciencespies]

Boeing's failed Starliner mission strains 'reliability' pitch

https://sciencespies.com/news/boeings-failed-starliner-mission-strains-reliability-pitch/

Boeing's failed Starliner mission strains 'reliability' pitch

SEATTLE/CAPE CANAVERAL (Reuters) – Boeing Co’s (BA.N) stunted Friday debut of its astronaut capsule threatens to dent the U.S. aerospace incumbent’s self-declared competitive advantage of mission reliability against the price and innovation strengths of “new space” players like Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, atop a ULA Atlas V rocket, lifts off for an uncrewed Orbital Flight Test to the International Space Station from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida December 20, 2019. REUTERS/Thom Baur

Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, has anchored its attempt to repel space visionaries like Musk and Amazon.com (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos partly on its mission safety record built up over decades of space travel.

While SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin are racing to send their own crewed missions to space for the first time, Boeing or Boeing heritage companies have built every American spacecraft that has transported astronauts into space. And the single-use rockets it builds in partnership with Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) have a virtually unblemished record of mission success. 

“We are starting from a position of mission reliability and safety,” Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg told Reuters earlier this year when asked about SpaceX and other insurgents aiming to disrupt Boeing on everything from astronaut capsules to rockets to satellites.

“There is a difference between putting cargo in space and putting humans in space, and that’s a big step. Our very deliberate, safety-based approach for things like CST-100, that will be a differentiator in the long run,” Muilenburg said.

The actual technical glitch that stunted Friday’s CST-100 Starliner mission to the International Space Station was a timer error though Boeing said it was too early to determine the exact cause of the fault.

Boeing was already working to surmount other technical and safety-related challenges on the multibillion-dollar NASA human spaceflight program. A government watchdog report in November found Boeing demanded “unnecessary” new contract funds from NASA.

Friday’s glitch adds to a year of intense scrutiny over how Boeing developed its money-spinning 737 MAX jetliner following twin crashes that killed 346 people in five months.

While there is no link between the 737 MAX crashes and the Starliner setback, one rocket industry executive told Reuters that in both cases problems arose as Boeing was racing to catch up with fast-moving rivals.

Boeing had no immediate comment.

“From a public relations standpoint, this error makes them not look so good because of all the 737 MAX issues,” said Teal Group space analyst Marco Caceres. “If you look at this in isolation, I don’t think of it as a massive problem for Boeing. There are only two companies picked for this program – that is an enviable place for Boeing to be, as long as nothing tragic happens.”

SpaceX successfully launched its own rival Crew Dragon astronaut capsule on a roundtrip journey to the ISS earlier this year, though it faces its own technical problems.

It is challenging Boeing’s space business more broadly by slashing the cost of accessing space with pioneering reusable rocket technology.

Bezos’ Blue Origin is also developing rockets and capsules for human and cargo space flights.

SpaceX is working toward a manned mission in first-quarter 2020. It declined to comment on Boeing’s setback.

There is no overlap between Boeing and SpaceX’s separate rocket-and-capsule systems.

But Boeing’s woes raise the stakes for SpaceX to perform successfully on upcoming tests as Boeing works to pinpoint the root cause, which may trigger months of delays and new costs if NASA requires design tweaks and a redo of Friday’s mission.

Slideshow (5 Images)

“SpaceX continues to move forward even if Boeing has a setback, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told reporters on Friday. “And, back in April, SpaceX had a setback and Boeing was continuing to move forward.”

Bridenstine added that NASA has a number of options on the table to make sure the impact of Boeing’s test failure does not cut off access to the space station.

“There are other companies that want to be a part of commercial crew,” Bridenstine added, citing Lockheed’s Orion capsule for eventual lunar missions.

Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Joey Roulette in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Additional reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Greg Mitchell, Tim Hepher and Alistair Bell

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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[mikemortgage]

Why business is booming for cannabis extraction companies, despite the supply shortages

In the most recent round of cannabis earnings, a little-known company called MediPharm Labs Corp. posted revenue of $10.2 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2018, a figure that placed it comfortably amongst the Top 10 for Canadian cannabis companies.

For a company that does not grow cannabis, MediPharm’s financial performance caught the attention of investors: Within days, its stock soared 30 per cent, and has since maintained that upward trajectory.

Instead of growing, Barrie, Ont.-based MediPharm is one of just a handful in Canada involved primarily in the business of extracting oils from the marijuana plant and turning them into products like gel capsules, or the high-potency concentrates that are expected to become legal later this year.

Wall Street private equity firm opens up shop in Toronto amid deeper push into cannabis

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Cannabis café a hazy relic as marijuana’s new retail paradigm takes over

Although some of the biggest licensed producers such as Canopy Growth Corp., Tilray Inc. and Aurora Cannabis Inc. are either constructing or have constructed their own extraction facilities, industry observers predict that infrastructure simply won’t suffice to meet future demand for cannabis in oil-form.

As such, they predict, companies focusing solely on cannabis extraction will start comprising an increasingly important subsection of the overall industry.

“Cannabis extraction is a huge growth opportunity in Canada. The reason I say that, is because if you look to the U.S., it was not uncommon to see 75 per cent of the market consuming cannabis flower years ago but as product offerings became more differentiated, we saw the market for flower drop to around 40 per cent, and the market for oils surge to over 60 per cent,” said Beau Whitney, a senior economist at the cannabis research firm New Frontier Data who was previously involved in the cannabis extraction business.

Olivier Dufourmantelle, the chief operating officer of Canopy Rivers Corp. — the venture capital arm of Canopy Growth — believes that as the cannabis industry matures over time, it will become increasingly fragmented, with specialists handling each part of the supply chain like any other industry.

“Cannabis extraction companies are analogous to corn syrup extractors, for example. They don’t grow corn, but they buy it, extract the syrup and then sell it to a bottling company like Coke,” said Dufourmantelle.

Indeed, MediPharm has over 20 supply, purchase or sales agreements with a number of licensed producers — they function as the middle-man of sorts in the cannabis supply chain, purchasing dried cannabis, extracting the oil-like substance containing THC or CBD from the plant, and selling it back to the same producers, or to other producers that have requested cannabis extract.

In late March, the company became the first in the country to receive a Health Canada licence exclusively for cannabis oil production which allows it to focus on extracting cannabis concentrates.

“We have reduced the scale-up risk by dealing with many major players because we know it has been difficult for some to scale up, so if we don’t get flower on time from one, we have others to go to,” explained MediPharm chief executive Pat McCutcheon.

MediPharm’s main competitors are Kelowna, B.C.-based Valens Groworks Corp. and Quebec-based Neptune Wellness Solutions. In early April, GMP Securities analyst Martin Landry initiated coverage on all three companies, placing a buy rating on all and substantially increasing their respective target prices.

“The extraction industry is poised to experience rapid growth with the arrival of vape pens, beverages and edibles this fall. Value-added products derived from cannabis extracts could represent 50 per cent of the cannabis industry sales in Canada over time,” Landry wrote in a note.

Unlike extractors focused solely on cannabis however, Neptune has a fallback — in the event demand for cannabis derivatives do not match up to forecasts and the bullish sentiment towards cannabis extractors subsides, the company is in the wellness business and owns a patent for the wildly successful Omega-3 Krill Oil supplement.

MediPharm Labs co-founders Keith Strachan, left, and Pat McCutcheon in one of the company’s extraction clean rooms at their facility in Barrie, Ont.

“We have never been cultivators and we do not intend to. But we do know the wellness business well, and to us, cannabis is a global consumer products phenomenon that does not happen so often. We thought, we got to get in there,” said Neptune’s chief executive Jim Hamilton, whose company was founded in 1998 but only entered the cannabis space three years ago.

Neptune says it has the capacity to extract 6,000 metric tons of cannabis in a year and has multi-year supply agreements with Canopy Growth, the first licensed producer to introduce extract-based CBD-heavy cannabis softgels to the adult-use market. But the company only received its license to process cannabis from Health Canada in early January, and as such, has yet to see revenue from its cannabis business.

At least on paper, Valens Groworks has a smaller processing capacity than Neptune — 240,000 kilograms a year, according to a recent press release from the company. But the company’s president of strategy and investments, Everett Knight says that efficiency in extraction is Valens’ core focus.

“First of all, we have five different kinds of extraction methods at our facility. Most people are only using CO2 as a solvent for extraction. Second of all, we’re extracting at a 90 per cent rate, which means that 90 per cent of the component we want in cannabis, THC or CBD, is being extracted, so we are getting higher yields,” Knight explained.

Last November, the company received a Health Canada licence to sell its extracted product to other licenced producers. The company has agreements with Tilray, Organigram Inc., Canopy Growth and The Green Organic Dutchman but in 2018, its revenues came only from consulting agreements and not from actual sales of cannabis extracts.

For the 2018 fiscal year ending November 30, Valens posted a loss of $15.9 million, which Knight attributes to capacity expansion: “We’re trying to expand to make sure we can make the most for our customers because what we see going into 2020 and 2021 is there are simply not enough extractors to meet the demand out there.”

New Frontier Data’s Whitney believes that companies that either do not align themselves with an extractor or have the financial capacity to vertically integrate and do the extraction themselves are at risk.

“There’s millions upon millions of (square feet of) licensed capacity to grow coming online. Prices for flower are going to decrease markedly so you need to be considering this commoditization of prices and how to diversify your business,” Whitney said.

But Dufourmantelle takes a slightly less bullish stance on the companies that currently exist in the extracting space, saying that while Canopy Rivers’ is looking to invest in extractors, it just hasn’t found the right firm.

The fact that MediPharm appears to be leading the extraction pack by miles is a point of caution for him. “I would warn investors on getting too excited about their earnings. They have the benefit of being in Ontario, and the bulk of cultivators are in Ontario. So they are in the unique position right now of being the sole provider of extraction services, and hence they have price leverage,” Dufourmantelle said.

“The question that remains to be seen is whether they can continue to sustain those numbers over time.”

• Email: vsubramaniam@postmedia.com | Twitter: VanmalaS

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The turmoil of Stan Lee: What’s going on?

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The turmoil of Stan Lee: What’s going on?

After the death his wife, the 95-year-old Marvel icon has found himself in the middle of a fight over his finances and legacy

Stan Lee, the Marvel Comics maestro and co-creator of Spider-Man, X-Men and Black Panther, lives in a world of heroes and villains. But these days, it can be hard to tell which is which.

Few creators have left as profound a mark on popular culture. According to The-Numbers, a box office data site, films featuring Lee’s superheroes have grossed more than $24 billion worldwide. He has a huge Twitter following, and admirers have included Federico Fellini, Ronald Reagan and George R.R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones.

“Stan is right up there with Walt Disney as one of the great creators of not just one character, but a whole galaxy of characters that have become part of our lives,” Martin said. “Right now, I think he’s probably bigger than Disney.”

Yet at the summit of Lee’s career, storm clouds have gathered. The last year has brought an unsettling mix of tragedy and scandal, including the death in July of Joan Lee, his wife of almost 70 years; suspicions that millions of dollars have been siphoned from his accounts; even gossip reports that a former business associate stole his blood to sell to fans.

Last month, The Hollywood Reporter published an investigation that said Lee, 95, is the victim of “elder abuse,” partly at the hands of his 67-year-old daughter, Joan Celia Lee. The Daily Beast reported that Lee, who is said to be worth around $50 million (Dh183.64 million), was “surrounded by a panoply of Hollywood charlatans and mountebanks” and being “picked apart by vultures.”

A radio talk show in Orlando, Florida, even aired a rumour that he is being “held captive” by handlers who “have him basically locked up in the house.”

But on a recent visit to Lee’s home in the Bird Streets, a celebrity enclave high in the hills of West Hollywood, California, the man himself said otherwise. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Lee said, chuckling and sounding like a 95-year-old teenager. “Nobody has more freedom.”

He also defended his daughter, known as JC, against claims that she has been physically abusive and a financial drain. “My daughter has been a great help to me,” he said. “Life is pretty good.”

A HOUSE IN DISARRAY

For four decades, Lee has lived in a relatively modest two-story house in the middle of what has become some of Los Angeles’ most valuable real estate. Dr. Dre is a neighbour, and Leonardo DiCaprio lives down the block, on a street where houses can list for north of $30 million.

The house is a time capsule of late 1970s Hollywood. “My wife, she’s the only person in the world that I would know of who would put a big mirror on top of a big mirror,” Lee said. “And when she was here, she had so many paintings, all over. Most of them have left now. My daughter took a lot of them, and a lot of them have gone elsewhere.”

It’s the vagueness about what has “gone elsewhere” that has some of Lee’s friends so worried. Since Lee’s wife died last year, his household has been thrown into disarray, with three factions of once-trusted aides vying for control. Lee’s current gatekeeper is Keya Morgan, who has ousted former staff. A former memorabilia dealer from New York, Morgan moved to Los Angeles as the executive producer of the mobster biopic Gotti and now describes himself as a “producing partner of John Travolta.”

Sitting at Lee’s side, he was dressed in a black suit and tie, black bowler hat and dark sunglasses, which he lowered on his nose to see indoors.

In February, Morgan called police to the house to physically remove Lee���s longtime road manager, Mac Anderson, known as Max. Anderson was accused of, among other things, attempting to bribe a nurse to make statements that Lee was being held hostage. “He got into a big fight with Stan and Stan’s daughter” and was fired soon afterward, Morgan said.

Reached by phone, Anderson declined to comment.

Also out was Jerry Olivarez, a Hollywood publicist who briefly obtained power of attorney over Lee’s affairs last year, during which time more than $1 million left the Marvel creator’s accounts. That included a $300,000 check made out to Hands of Respect, a novelty company owned by Olivarez and Lee that makes a $10 lapel pin advocating racial harmony.

In unrelated matters, $1.4 million may have vanished in a series of wire transfers, and a Chanel handbag full of cash may be missing from the house, according to Morgan. Also, a trove of Marvel memorabilia, including character sketches and figurines, is the subject of disputed ownership between Anderson and Lee, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Lee may be a creative genius, but he isn’t a financial one. “I’ve been very careless with money,” he said. “I had a partner or two who, since I’m not a money counter — I let them take care of keeping track of the money we made,” Lee said, as he sipped a bottle of mineral water to soothe his raspy voice. “Lately, I have found out that a lot of the money we made is no longer available for me. I don’t know where it is, but a guy, and maybe one or two others, have found a way to take it.

“So, I feel bad about it, and of course we have a lawyer trying to get it back again,” he said. “But money isn’t worth losing your cool about, you know?”

SUPERHERO FACTORY

The child of Romanian Jewish immigrants, Stanley Lieber was born in New York City in 1922. He was hired in 1939 as an assistant at Timely Comics, the not-especially-promising division of a pulp magazine publisher that would eventually be renamed Marvel. Following a staff exodus the next year, the newly rechristened Lee (an alias he adopted to save his real name for the great novels he aspired to write) was appointed its editor.

His greatest streak of inspiration began in 1961, when Lee was almost 40 and thoroughly disenchanted with his career. With artist Jack Kirby, he created the Fantastic Four, a hit he bested the next year by inventing Spider-Man with artist Steve Ditko. Among the enduring characters he created over the next decade with those artists, and others, are the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Doctor Strange and, in 1966, Black Panther: an African warrior-king whose recent film adventure has grossed more than $1.3 billion.

“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce black characters a little sooner,” Lee said. “I tried to create an Asian superhero, I tried to create a South American superhero. And at that point I also was thinking it’s ridiculous that we don’t have a black superhero.”

Asked if contemporary comics and films could be doing a better job of representing women and superheroes of colour, he replied, “yes,” but expanded: “You can’t force anything on the public. But if you do a black hero or heroine and you see that it’s well-received at the newsstand, then you’d be an idiot not to come up with more stories like that. Everything depends on the marketplace.”

Yet Lee may have underestimated his own value in the marketplace. While he has made exponentially more money than any of his Marvel co-creators, he only ever collected a paycheck, and does not receive any continuing royalties from the films based on his characters.

In 2005, he received a one-time payment of $10 million from Marvel, to settle a provision in his contract that had entitled him to 10 per cent of the profits from television and film adaptations. Four years later, Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion; it is unclear whether Lee was able to reap any benefit. (As Marvel’s chairman emeritus, he still receives a salary, reported to be $1 million.)

And while his personal appearances (including charging fans $120 for an autograph) are a lucrative source of income, later-life attempts to create wholly owned superhero properties have foundered. Stan Lee Media, a digital content start-up, crashed in 2000 and landed his business partner, Peter F. Paul, in prison for securities fraud. And Lee is embroiled in disputes with POW! Entertainment, the company he started in 2001 to create new shows, including “Stripperella,” a cartoon starring Pamela Anderson.

POW! was sold last year to Camsing International, a Hong Kong-based company seeking to clone Marvel for the Asian market. Lee says he has not been paid, which the company denies. “Mr. Lee has been paid and continues to be paid by the company,” said Shane Duffy, the chief executive of POW! “Statements like this only heighten our concern for Stan’s well-being.”

As part of the escalating fight, Morgan and Lee’s daughter entered the POW! offices on Santa Monica Boulevard on the night of March 14 and removed items they say belong to Lee. They triggered a silent alarm, prompting POW! to file a police report.

The Beverly Hills police subsequently dropped the burglary investigation, but the fighting continues. “They’re acting as if they bought the company and everything on the four walls belong to them,” said Lee, sounding downcast. “So, another lawsuit.”

AN OSCAR FOR STAN LEE?

Outside the bubble of legal drama and personal strife, however, Lee’s creative influence remains at an all-time high. “There’s no doubt that Stan, in terms of American popular culture, he’s one of the giants of the 20th century,” Martin said. “Spider-Man and Iron Man; the X-Men — they’re still as viable as ever.”

From the floral sofa in his sitting room, Lee is a font of highly entertaining stories from the glory days, even if some of them sound taller than his 1962 creation Giant-Man. Like the time Picasso was so taken by Joan Lee’s beauty that he approached the couple in a New York restaurant and sketched her on their tablecloth. “We ran home to tell my father about what happened,” Lee said. But, “in our excitement, we had left the drawing in the restaurant. We never found it!”

Or the time when DiCaprio told Lee that he had written the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, lobbying for Lee to receive an honorary Oscar for his numerous cameos over the years. (Lee appears in nearly every Marvel movie, including Black Panther, in which he plays a gambler in a South Korean casino.)

DiCaprio also wants to portray Lee in a film about the Marvel creator, according to Morgan, who accompanied Lee on a recent visit to DiCaprio’s house. (A spokesman for DiCaprio would not confirm this account of their conversation.) The thought of a biopic starring DiCaprio gave Lee pause. He looked out over the pool, to the canyon beyond, and pondered being portrayed by an Oscar-winning actor.

“I don’t know if he could capture the essence of me,” he said, after a moment. “We have to talk about that.”

[shanfouriecoza]

I was made aware of the fact that April is caesarean section awareness month, and because I have been promising to share my birth stories with you, I figured – what better time than now? I say “now”, yet it has honestly taken me at least 40 attempts of sitting at my computer for any length of time longer than 7 minutes before being interupted by my life of 3 beautiful c/section-born babies! It has taken me 3 days to get to this point in the writing…

This is a 3 part post, starting at the beginning, of course – our first-born son; Jackson.

With this being my first pregnancy, and being the Type A personality I am who needs to approach everything with some sense of knowing what I am in for, I ensured we attended antenatal classes as a couple. The knowledge I gained from these classes, as well as the various books I read, allowed me to understand the benefits of a natural/vaginal birth over a c/section, and I wrote up my birth plan. My wish was to have a natural birth, without drugs if possible. I actually found my birth plan the other day;

Birth Plan – Jackson

Reading it brought back all of those feelings and more. I had a deep desire for a natural birth. I yearned to prove to myself that I could do it. I hoped to have my baby the way women had been doing it for centuries before me – the way ‘God intended’!

After a long and difficult pregnancy, (a story for another post), I got to 40 weeks and there was no sign of this little boy’s appearance. I tried every SINGLE trick there was in the book of Old Wives’ Tales on “how to bring on labour”, including walking up and down stairs, inserting Evening Primrose capsules up my you know what and drinking Castor oil!! None of which helped even a little bit. Not even one sign of labour. Devos.

Just two days before I went got to 41 weeks, and only just before I almost exploded from unbelievable water retention (everything was swollen!!), my gynae asked me to come in to be induced. This was not part of my perfect birth plan, but it was something I had prepared myself for mentally. I really dreamt of a smooth, drug-free labour, complete with muic to calm me, and my hubby catching my baby… Oh boy! My experience couldn’t have been more diferent!

05 September 2012: Justin and I made our way to the hospital. We arrived at 10pm.

We could not be more excited to be parents:

We settled in and by midnight I had recieved part one of induction process: “Propess”. “A pessary containing the active ingredient dinoprostone, which is a naturally occuring female hormone also known as prostaglandin E2” (source).

We were told to try and get some sleep. I started having mild contractions not long after the pessary was inserted, but tried to sleep though them. I probably got 2 hours max. Justin made himself ‘comfortable’ and managed about 4hours.

By 7am the pain had intensified somewhat, but was still manageable. I was comfortable knowing that if I required induction that I was open to recieving pain meds as I was aware that it intensified the pain in most cases. I told you – I did my research! 🙂 For the time-being though, I was okay. It wasn’t until an hour later when my gynae came by, checked my dilation (which was non existent), and broke my waters, that I really felt like I was actually experiencing labour!! The breaking of the waters itself was both uncomfortable and excruciating. Having someone shove their arm that far up inside you is one thing, but seeing what looks like a knitting needle go in there too… well… pretty scary. The gush that followed was crazy! felt like the dam wall broke and all while I was lying in it. Not the best feeling, but I was hopeful that this would speed along the natural birth of our boy!

The contractions slowly but surely became more and more intense, until I got to a stage where the pain was so unbareable that I pushed my arms into the wall and needed Justin to stand behind me pushing onto my lower back to release some of the intense pressure I was feeling while the contraction lasted. By 2.30pm I was unable to take any more and requested the pain medication. By 3.30pm I was given a spinal and it was absolute bliss.

All my previous notions of being hopeful that I would have a medication-free birth went out the window, and I felt ridiculous for trying to be a martyr and endure that kind of pain, all while God had given us the gift of pain-relief. What was I trying to prove, and to who? I wasn’t even sure, but I was so so relieved to be out of pain. 17 hours in and I had only dilated 1cm. I know that by now you are wondering why on earth I was left to go this long? My gynae knew how much I wanted a normal birth, and is very pro-normal birth herself. Jackson’s heart rate was still perfectly normal and I was doing just fine. There was no urgency and we didn’t want to give up just yet.

22 hours into labour my gynae came in looking like it was over. She asked me if I was ready to go into theatre as it just did not look like this was happening for us. I wasn’t. I asked her to please check me again as I just knew that I was almost there. 4cm. Are you effing kidding me?! All that time and all that pain and I was only 4cm?? She offered one last option – Oxytocin. “Oxytocin is a hormone that causes contractions of the uterus. It can be used to start labor or to speed up labor that began on its own. Contractions usually start in about 30 minutes after oxytocin is given.” (source). Watching the CTG and seeing how my contractions peaked after the oxytocin was administered, and just did not come down again was incredible, and again I was just so thankful for the meds, but this gave me false hope that this was it! In my mind there was NO WAY that my uterus could be contracting like this and not dilating my cervix. I was adamant that this was it! We sent out a final prayer request to family and friends and had all the faith in the world that it was happening.

The whole time I was talking to my body. Following birthing principles that I was taught, I told my cervix that it was ripening and softening and it was fully dilating. I was telling my body that it was doing what it was made to do. But… it wasn’t. It was trying to, but it just couldn’t get it right.

By the 24th hour I was still only 4.5cm dilated and my gynae called it. She gently but lovingly and symphathetically told us that we had given my body every opportunity, and now it was time to meet our little boy. By this point I can quite honestly say I was in 100% agreement. I was physically and emotionally shattered. I couldn’t do anymore.

We went into theatre and from this point on my memory is blurry. I was given a spinal and I lay back. I could not care less that I was in theatre. I did not even really register that my naked body lay out for all to see while being cleaned and prepped for surgery. My body and mind were exhausted and all that mattered was that this was the means to an end. A happy end.

10.20pm my c/section commenced and my abdomen was sliced open. 3 minutes later my little boy was outside my body, making that most beautiful sound – his first cry. This completely blows my mind. It took my gynae 3 minutes to cut through my skin, underlain by subcutaneous tissues, connective tissue and muscles. Then through the lining of the abdominal cavity, (called the peritoneum), which encloses all the abdominal contents. Then uterine wall, which itself is made up of 3 muscles (source). It blows my mind that I went through 24 hours of the most tiring experience of my life (well, my life up to that point of pre-motherhood existence), only for this little nunu to be taken out in 3 short minutes.

I was completely in awe. My baby was here. He was real. He was everything I wished and prayed for and here he was in front of me. He had been squished and squashed against an unopened cervix for so many hours and so he looked like an old wrinkled man with a buldge on his head from the pressure of being up against the 4cm wide hole, so much so that Justin got a fright and his first thought was to worry about what I was going to think… but all I saw was LOVE. Justin cut the cord – which is the next best thing to catching him, right??

The paed did a quick but thorough check of him, giving him an Apgar of 9, and then 10.

10:26pm They wanted to give him to me but I couldn’t take him. I didn’t feel myself so the paed kept him a little longer.

10:33pm He was placed on my chest. All I had wanted was to hold him. And then all of a sudden I didn’t. I couldn’t. I felt very ill. I felt like I was going to faint and throw up all at once.

They took him off me and gave him to Justin.

The mood in the room changed. The chatter that was previously so subconsciously comforting ceased, and all that was left was silence. I had a bleed. They worked quietly to fix it. It is quite scary watching this back on the video. There was so.much.blood.  Especially compared to my second and third birth videos.

10 minutes later I felt human again. I was able to ask for my baby to come back to me, and in the best moment ever they placed him back on my chest – skin-on-skin.

I was closed up and taken to recovery where Jackson latched immediatley. He stayed on my skin for the next 3 hours. It would have been longer, but the night staff insisted on bathing him, and being a first-time (and already exhausted) mom I didn’t know any better. I wish I had left him for at least 24 hours, which is recommended as they find comfort in still smelling like they are in the womb.

We learnt that I have a fibrous ring around my cervix, and so there was no way that that little hole was ever getting any larger than 4cm. We also saw that Jackson was looking up, in a posteria position (which was a large contributing factor to the incredible back-pain I had in early labour), and the cord was around his neck twice. My body was just not going to let my baby boy out that way. Nope.

Despite starting our parenting journey on the back-foot being thoroughly exhausted before our first moments with our baby boy, and feeling a little disappointed that my body let me down, the excitement of his arrival kept us going. In all honesty, I have to say that I crashed badly on the afternoon of day 1 visits in hospital. My pain meds wore down and I was completely shattered. I barely got through those first evening visitors with much personality at all. I also struggled with an enormous amount of pain post c/section. We were also a little unlucky with the timing of his birth, because we were back in the ward before midnight so that counted as our first night and only had two more before we headed home, in comparison to having an elective c/section in the morning and having that full day and night, followed by three more days and two more nights to recover, but we didn’t have other babies at home yet – he was our number 1, and so going home wasn’t all bad news… until Justin realised he had to start learning how to cook dinners cos this post c/sec mama was struggling! (Thank the Lord for kind friends who brought us meals for three weeks!)

My first labour was nothing like like I had imagined it to be, but I am so grateful for every moment I experienced of it. I learnt that I could endure 12 hours of minor contractions, 5 hours of intense and unforgettable pain, and 25hours total of eventful labour. I managed to allow my first baby to be ‘prepared’ for birth through the contractions. I know that I tried to follow what I believed to be the best option for my baby, but rested peacefully in the fact that in the end, no matter how he arrived, as long as he was healthy it didn’t matter whether his portal into the world was natural or man-made. Best of all though, was that in going through this stressful and eventful labour, Justin was allowed the chance to bond with Jackson from the word go. It’s beautiful to watch the videos taken by the Paed (while he was trying to distract Justin from what was going on with me on the table), because when Jackson would start to cry hysterically Justin would go close to him and speak to him gently, and immediately he would calm. Too special.

Our chubby, healthy boy was born at 22:23 on the 06/09/2012 at 3.515kg. A tiny little bundle of perfection that took us from two selfish and clueless individuals, and grew us into loving and ever-learning parents.

I can hardly believes he turns 6 in less than half a year. Always my baby boy xxx

  *** It was my intention to have posted all 3 birth stories in April, but with all the time it took me in diving down memory lane and watching all the videos of this event again, processing all the feels and putting it down in words, not to mention life as a mom to three, it has taken me much longer than I anticipated, but my second and third birth stories will follow. 

Thanks for reading, please share your stories with me

xoxo

Birth Story | Jackson I was made aware of the fact that April is caesarean section awareness month, and because I have been promising to share my birth stories with you, I figured - what better time than now?

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New Post has been published on Titos London

#Blog New Post has been published on http://www.titoslondon.co.uk/from-calder-to-koons-the-growing-demand-for-wearable-art/

From Calder to Koons, the growing demand for wearable art

When Artists’ Jewellery: From Calder to Koons opens at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) on March 7, it marks not only a curatorial coup, but the apotheosis of a burgeoning market. Conceived by Diane Venet, a leading collector of artist-made jewellery, and Karine Lacquemant, assistant curator of the modern and contemporary department at MAD, the show will feature 258 pieces created by 150 different artists. Many of the pieces will be displayed alongside original artworks by the same artist for the first time—a feat made possible by the museum’s vast collection and Venet’s extensive connections in the art world, which has resulted in a number of significant loans. By presenting jewellery alongside other art forms, the exhibition’s design—realised by interior architect Antoine Plazanet and graphic designers ÉricandMarie—makes a powerful statement about their intellectual and artistic value.

“My aim was to explain definitively that artist jewellery is art and not jewellery,” Venet tells Vogue over the phone from Paris a week before the show opens. “An artist is doing jewellery, most of the time, for the woman they love or [for] a great friend, but it’s always related to their main work,” the collector and curator continues. “It’s not a miniature of what they’re doing big, but it’s definitely inspir[ed], so that when you see the jewellery you recognise immediately who is it from.” Venet’s selection includes Niki de Saint Phalle’s tapestries and the artist’s Nana brooch—a wearable version of the vibrantly coloured, voluptuous female figures she started creating in 1964, some of which measured more than five metres—as well as Wim Delvoye’s pigskin tattooed with an image of Christ, which inspired his “Jesus Twisted” necklace comprising eight pendants of contorted effigies—a very different exploration of the same subject.

Discovering that renowned artists with such disparate styles as Pablo Picasso, Lucio Fontana and Andy Warhol designed jewellery may still be a surprise to many, but in the last few years the market for wearable art has rocketed, with auctions multiplying and prices soaring well above their estimates. In exceptional cases, including an edition of Salvador Dali’s The Eye of Time brooch and an Alexander Calder necklace, prices have surpassed the million dollar mark. According to Louisa Guinness, whose eponymous gallery in London has one of the most comprehensive collections of artist-made jewellery, the demand is a consequence of generational differences and a result of collectors and gallerists’ tireless promotional work through exhibitions, art fairs and books.

“A lot of this jewellery was made in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and the people who owned it are leaving it to the next generation,” explains Guinness, gesturing towards a stack of wooden boxes containing numbered pins designed by Max Ernst, which she has just acquired. “The people who inherited it don’t want it. They want to sell, which is exactly what’s happened with this collection. So that’s when people come to me or it comes up at auction.”

For Imogen Kerr, associate director of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s, market growth goes hand-in-hand with a general increase in people’s appreciation of art outside the more traditional disciplines of painting and sculpture. “It’s quite a contemporary audience that looks at these works and thinks about how they can actually wear art as jewellery,” says Kerr. “People are looking at the way art and design are intertwined, at the intersection of those practices, and are in a place where they can appreciate artworks in applied art form.”

This appreciation of art has long manifested itself in fashion. Collaborations between designers and fine artists have existed since at least 1911, when French couturier Paul Poiret commissioned Fauve artist Raoul Dufy to make woodcut designs for his fabrics, but recently their commercial appeal has boomed. 2017 saw the release of Jeff Koons Masters collection for Louis Vuitton; a collaboration between Andres Serrano and Supreme; looks illustrated by the likes of Unskilled Worker and Angelica Hicks on the Gucci runway, and the ongoing creative partnership between Sterling Ruby and Raf Simons at Calvin Klein. The growing interest in the symbiotic relationship between art and fashion is perhaps fed by a desire for exclusive limited editions and capsule collections as a means of expressing individual style.

At the same time, designers and consumers are eager to explore new shores. “The world of fashion and design is so exhausted. There is only so much creativity, you need to have more input,” says Guinness, who has noticed the pivotal change of attitude from the industry. “[They] did not accept or understand a lot of the artist jewellery world,” she tells Vogue. “[Now] they are like sponges, absorbing the creativity of the artists who challenge the boundaries of conventional design.” Artist-designed/made jewellery has already debuted on the runway, with Maria Grazia Chiuri enlisting Claude Lalanne for Dior Haute Couture in January 2017 and Victoria Beckham including Emily Young’s creations in her Autumn/Winter 2017 show (all jewellery was loaned by Guinness).

Artists’ jewellery is prized for its unique and conceptual value, so it’s intrinsically wary of mass production, however there are parallels with the fashion industry. “The price range is for everyone,” argues Elisabetta Cipriani, who commissions contemporary artists to make jewellery through her gallery in London. Her pieces, created by the likes of Ai Weiwei, Enrico Castellani and Adel Abdessemed, go from £1,000 to over £100,000. “If you have the means, the character and are intellectually sophisticated, this is the jewellery for you. ”

It’s a sentiment shared by Guinness, who believes there is still some educating to be done around the value of artist’s jewellery. “One of the things that I do get upset about is when someone comes into the gallery carrying a £20,000 Hermes handbag and they say they can’t afford a £5,000 Anish Kapoor,” she laments. “I say, ‘well ditch the bag.’”

1/10 Diane Venet

Image: Damian Noszkowicz

Brooch, Niki de Saint Phalle, 
1973 -1974

Image: Sherry Griffin/ Niki Charitable Art Foundation Adagp, Paris

Brooch, Salvador Dalí, 1957

Image: Fundació Gala- Salvador Dalí Adagp, Paris, 2018

Jacqueine De Jong

Image: Courtesy of Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery

Elisabetta Cipriani

Image: Courtesy of Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery

Enrico Castellani

Image: Courtesy of Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery

Lampshade Earrings, Man Ray, 1970

Image: Courtesy of Louisa Guinness Gallery

Brass Necklace, Alexander Calder, 1950

Image: Courtesy of Louisa Guinness Gallery

White Slash Bracelet, Lucio Fontana

Image: Courtesy of Louisa Guinness Gallery

Gold Spider Brooch, Louise Bourgeois, 1996

Image: Tom Carter/ Courtesy of Louisa Guinness Gallery

“Artists’ Jewellery: From Calder to Koons” opens on March 7 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

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